Powell: Sarwan, Gayle big loss for Tallawahs

JAMAICA Tallawahs captain Rovman Powell described the departure of Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan as a “big loss,” but said his squad is anticipating the 2020 Hero Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament after a forgettable 2019 edition.

The tournament will be played in Trinidad from Tuesday to September 10 at two venues – Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba and the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair.

Powell said, “To lose Chris first is a big loss, but even to lose Sarwan also is a big loss, But we got to be professional about it. We have to put our best foot forward nevertheless and just come out and play good cricket.

"This is a very important year with regards to Tallawahs. It is no secret that we did not perform well last year, so this year we are definitely looking to change that. But yeah, those guys are a big loss.”

Last week, Newsday reported that former West Indies batsman Sarwan will not be the assistant coach for the franchise, as he was granted personal leave.

Sarwan was seen in a photograph on social media with new Guyanese president Irfaan Ali. Ali, the presidential candidate for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic in the March elections, was sworn in on August 2.

Sarwan, the former Guyanese and WI cricketer, left the Tallawahs franchise on August 6.

In April, Gayle went on a rant on Youtube after being released by the Tallawahs. Gayle gave reasons why he thought he was let go by the Tallawahs, which included blaming Sarwan. However, Sarwan denied having anything to do with Gayle’s release.

One of the issues was that Gayle claimed that Sarwan wanted to be the head coach instead of Donovan Miller. Gayle said he was honest with Sarwan, as he told the former right-handed batsman that he has no experience being a head coach and it is not an easy job.

Gayle said Sarwan was upset by his opinion and held that against him when Miller was selected as head coach.

Gayle was set to play for the St Lucia Zouks, but in June announced he will miss the tournament for personal reasons.

Powell, who is honoured to lead top players such as Andre Russell, said the Tallawahs have strengthened their bowling attack. They have added spinners Veerasammy Permaul and Sandeep Lamichhane of Nepal along with pacers Fidel Edwards, Preston McSween and Carlos Brathwaite. West Indies pacers Oshane Thomas and Russell have been retained for the 2020 tournament.

“It is a pretty good bowling attack. It is no secret, as I said before, we struggled last year and this year we try to fix the bowling aspect of things so that we can better that.”

Tallawahs ended last year’s tournament last among the six teams, with only two wins in ten matches.

Over 250 players and officials are staying at the Hilton Hotel, St Ann's and are only allowed to leave for training sessions.

Powell said the quarantine had its challenges.

“It has been tough, but yet good. We came here in time for quarantine and as the quarantine process relaxes, we start to have a little bit of training sessions, a little bit of gym (sessions) and then (on Thursday) we had our first net session, which went well.”