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Hendy Springer has been talking a lot these days. And it's not just idle chat.

The new Barbados coach has had some meaningful face-to-face encounters with individual players in the build-up to their first-round Busta Cup match against Guyana starting today at Kensington Oval.

"We sat down and we spoke seriously," Springer said.

"In many cases we spoke about the things that we would like to achieve from the game."

Areas like personal development outside of the game and things that would have an impact on the players as professionals were some of the topics during the discussions.

"We have been doing a lot of talking and a lot of listening. I hope that it manifests itself positively," Springer said.

The coach did not have individual sessions with every single team member. Most of them were with the senior players, some of whom he would have played alongside when he represented Barbados in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"The senior players always set the tone for the season," the former off-spinning all-rounder said.

"I sat down with a couple, they listened to me, I listened to them and it was a good inter-active exchange, as I call it."

The players had a lot to say, according to the coach.

"Some of the guys have not achieved as much as they would have liked over the last couple of months," Springer said.

Hard work

"They are looking forward to putting that right and they recognise that it can only be done with hard work."

Barbados, under new captain Ian Bradshaw, yesterday finalised their 11 and omitted batsman Shirley Clarke and fast bowler Dayne Maynard from the 13 that was announced a few weeks ago.

It means a return to first-class cricket for utility batsman Sean Armstrong and a first regional cap for wicket-keeper Corey Glasgow.

Bradshaw, Armstrong and Glasgow join Hendy Bryan to form a quartet of representatives from Cockspur Wanderers.

It is the first time since 1961 when Robin Bynoe, Dennis Atkinson, Geoffrey Foster and David Allan played in the same national team together that Wanderers have had four players in a Barbados team simultaneously.

The match also marks the return to first-class cricket for Carl Hooper on the ground where he played his last international match almost two years ago.

Treasured Ground

It has been a treasured ground for the Guyana captain, who scored three of his four regional hundreds there, but Barbados are not overwhelmed by the presence of the former West Indies all-rounder.

"Hooper is a very good player. I have got a lot of respect for him, but I think Barbados have got a lot more good players in their side than Guyana have in their side," Springer said.

Guyana's record against Barbados is unimpressive - four wins against 11 defeats in 34 matches - but their manager, Pat Legall, feels the 1999 and 2000 semifinalists will give a good showing.

"Our expectations are very high for this year. We are concentrating on all nine matches. We mean to play every round, semifinals and final," he said.

"The preparations this year were very good. We scarcely had showers. We were able to get in some good match practice and the team is very much fitter than the last two years."

© The Barbados Nation