Clash against Pride is “important to win” – Reifer
By Akeem Greene
Guyana Jaguars all-rounder Raymon Reifer has viewed the crucial match beginning today against the Barbados Pride as one which is “important to win” since it can place the team in a more comfortable position on the points table in the 2016/2017 West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Professional Cricket League (PCL) Digicel Regional 4-day competition.
The all-rounder had an excellent showing with the pink ball in the Jaguars previous match and will hoping to lead the Jaguars to a crucial victory
Jaguars (33.6) currently hold a slim 0.2 lead over the second-placed Pride (33.4) and will hope that playing on home turf will give them the opportunity to extend that in a bid to cop an unprecedented three-peat in titles.
Speaking to Guyana Times Sport on Wednesday, the 25 year-old said, “It is an important game for us, every game is for us and a win in this game can help separate us and give a bit of comfort going into the rest of the games throughout the season.”
The last time these two teams met in February at the Kensington Oval, it ended in a thrilling draw with the left-handed batsmen himself playing a vital role, by making a resilient 19 not out from 116 balls to deny the Bajans in what looked to be a certain victory.
Pride’s batting line-up boast the likes of several current and former Test players especially that of captain Kraigg Brathwaite but the left-arm seamer says that his team simply needs to stick to the basics.
“We can’t really worry about who they have in their team or what they do, we just have to go and do what we can do and hit our areas consistently”, the player stated.
In the previous day/night match against Windward Islands Volcanoes in St. Lucia the Barbados-born bowler picked up 6-82 in the first innings, posited that the ball does not operate drastically different from the red-ball.
“To me the pink ball plays similar to the white ball, it seams more than it swings but a bit later you get a little reverse swing; It is a little difficult to pick up with the black sight screen since the ball is pink which is pretty close to red but we have to work with that,” Reifer said.
The Barbadian is eager to face his home-team revealing that “I enjoy the challenge of playing against my home team, I hope we beat them again to come away with bragging rights.”
The player who has been a part of the Jaguars’ unit for the last three seasons has scored 164 runs and taken nine wickets to date says that he does not have any structured plans for the season since he just wants to enjoy his cricket and produce his best when on the field.
Play in the hugely expected match gets on the way at 15:00h using the pink ball at Providence. Admission is free.
