KHULNA, Bangladesh – Yannic Cariah said the tour of Bangladesh by the Sagicor High Performance Centre team will be a good experience for him and the other members of the squad.
The 20-year-old Cariah and the rest of the team arrived in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka on Wednesday before travelling to this south-western city ahead of the opening match of the tour against the Bangladesh National Cricket Academy, starting on Sunday at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium.
"It will be the first time I will be going there, playing in Asian sub-continent conditions, and I will be looking to take all that I have learnt in the Sagicor HPC and all the preparation we have done and try to perform well," he said.
"It will be a good chance for me to showcase my talent. All the hard work over the last three months, it is for me to go out there and play well, clear my mind and do what I have got to do, and was born to do."
The month-long tour also features a four-day match against the Bangladesh A-Team, as well as three One-day and two Twenty20 matches against the same opponents between September 16 and October 5.
Cariah said the first three months of the Sagicor HPC programme had been challenging, but there were a few lessons that he had learnt over the period.
"It is an honour and a privilege to be in the Sagicor HPC," he said. "I have learnt a lot and I have worked hard on my game. Everybody, including my coaches and my teammates, has put in a lot of hard work."
He added: "I have tried my best to gain a lot of information about all aspects of my game including the mental side.
"One of the important things I have learnt is that anything you do in practice will be reflected in your game. You have to do everything 110 per cent. You have to be purposeful if you are going to succeed in this game."
The Sagicor HPC squad has been encamped since June 1 this year at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies in Barbados.
Cariah, a leg-spinner and handy left-handed batsman, said the players had bonded well and had grown into a closely knit unit, which he felt would serve them well on the tour.
"This is a family," he said. "People from different countries, different backgrounds, and we have grown to know and understand each other.
"We are all getting along very well and we are all looking forward to doing well on the tour."
Cariah, a former West Indies Under-19 player at the 2010 ICC Youth World Cup, has played five Regional 4Day for his native Trinidad & Tobago and two Regional Super50 matches for the Windies U-19s over the last three years.
He said his obvious long-term goal was to play for West Indies, ultimately becoming a reliable member of the team.
"I have my goals in life, but my expectations are high because I set very high standards for myself," he said.
"I want to continue to enjoy playing the game and giving my all in everything I do."
This is the second squad of players at the Sagicor HPC since its inauguration two years ago.
The first squad of players that included current West Indies opener Kieran Powell and fast bowler Shannon Gabriel successfully completed the programme.
The Sagicor HPC programme, which is exclusively funded by the West Indies Cricket Board through sponsorship from regional financial services company, Sagicor, has been broadened to focus more intensely on developing the mental prowess of the players.
In addition to the standard rigorous training in skills development and fitness required for high performance athletes, the players are also benefitting from specialised training in a number of other areas including their roles as ambassadors, personal development, anti-doping and anti-corruption.
The 2012-2013 Sagicor HPC programme will conclude next May.