Guyana Harpy Eagles finished third at the end of the shortened Cricket West Indies Four-Day season, playing all five of their matches in Trinidad and Tobago.
In an interview with News Room Sport this week, President of the Guyana Cricket Board, Bissoondyal Singh, said he personally believes the performance was “average” and there are “issues” they must address.
This season, Harpy Eagles had one loss (an innings and 57-run defeat to Leeward Hurricanes in round two), two wins (over champions Barbados Pride and Windward Volcanoes) and two draws (against Jamaica Scorpions and Trinidad and Tobago Red Force).
It meant for the second season in a row, Guyana finished without the title after previously winning five on the trot.
However, at one stage of the competition, the Harpy Eagles were among the frontrunners to walk away with the title.
This First-Class season, though just five rounds, was split into two. The first two rounds were hosted by Barbados and Trinidad in February, then there was a prolonged break before a restart in May where all the remaining matches were played in Trinidad and Tobago.
Usually, the season is 10 rounds- an even split of matches home and away- but due to the pandemic, Cricket West Indies reduced the number of matches.
“We’re [GCB] still to assess what really went on there, but my personal view, average,” Singh related when asked by News Room Sport to make an assessment of the team’s performance.
“We are a new board, there is a lot of things we have to put in place [and] from our observation, some of the things we inherited need to be fixed like yesterday. So, we are working heavily, we are working internally to get all of these things fixed.”
The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Director further stated, “We are now exiting a pandemic too, so it is not a good time to do a great assessment as to what really went on. Players played under serious restrictions and you could understand the anxiety level in participating and preparing in an environment where you can’t operate as free as you can.
“It must be a heavy burden on your mind. It cannot be a tournament the GCB uses as an examination or a marker to come up with the correct study as to the way forward. but we are exiting a pandemic and the work is in progress and as we get the progression, we will get it right. As in anything, they must be issues here and there and we don’t see very much of that in the Harpy Eagles, but there are issues we must address.”
During the first two rounds, there were strict restrictions, but for the latter part of the tournament those were relatively relaxed.
It is understood that the next First-Class season will return to 10 rounds, and the Guyana Harpy Eagles’ management is eying that as an opportunity to reclaim the title.