Preysal official and national cricket coach Rangy Nanan was yesterday explaining the National League club's decision to recruit Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop for the club's 1998 season in Division two.
Bishop, currently on tour with the West Indies team in Pakistan, has been recruited as part of a $70,000 sponsorship deal that will see the central Trinidad village team being sponsored by insurance giants Clico. Explaining the thinking behind the decision to have Bishop captain the Second Division team next season, Nanan told the Express yesterday: ``We were looking for somebody to revitalise cricket in the village. We felt that (Ian) Bishop was the best person to help with that.''
Bishop will take charge of a senior team full of promising youngsters, including national youth team players Andy Jackson and Randy Bachan. But Preysal is also a club with promising talent at the lower levels, the club having won the U-15 and U-19 Central titles in 1997.
And the hope is that the national player's influence will be widespread. ``He wants to give back something to cricket,'' Nanan said, ``He feels he can help with the young players.''
Preysal are also hoping to attract at least one other national player to work with Bishop in the year ahead.