Convert starts to bigger scores – Johnson

…as Jaguars face Volcanoes today in St Lucia

By Akeem Greene

Guyana Jaguars captain Leon Johnson is adamant that his batsmen need to convert their starts into bigger scores ahead of their second round match against the Windward Volcanoes in the 2017/2018 Cricket West Indies (CWI) Digicel Regional 4-Day match at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium in St Lucia, today.

“There is always room from improvement; batsmen converting their start into bigger scores is one of the areas we need to improve. Some batmen got into their 30s and they need to kick-on,” Johnson told Guyana Times Sport prior to departure for the Windward Island.
“Also, there needs to be a bit more consistency with the bowling at times even though we bowled them [Jamaica Scorpions] out for 99 [in the first innings], I thought in the second innings were impatient and we bowled some loose deliveries and let them off the hook quite easily,” he added.
The Test batsman had scores of 20 and 50 in the 263-run route of Jamaica Scorpions at Providence on Sunday, time in the middle which he felt gave him confidence ahead for the remaining matches.
“Having not played this kind of cricket in a while. I played three-day cricket but it is obviously not the same so I was looking to spend some time in the middle and I felt well at the crease. The guys bowled decent areas and I stuck it out and didn’t give them opportunities. I need to covert that fifty into a century next time and look to get runs every time I go out to bat.”

The skipper was also in high praises for the performances from the youngsters of the squad, Keemo Paul (scored only century of match), Chandrapaul Hemraj (60), Anthony Bramble (62) and Sherfane Rutherford (45), all of whom he felt took their opportunities in the absence of the older players.
Meanwhile, Jaguars enter today’s meeting as strong favourites having not lost to their opponents in the last six encounters. When the two played last season at the same venue, their day/night match was limited to a draw.
The inclusion of Vishaul Singh and Keon Joseph, after their recent West Indies ‘A’ team duties should be another boost on a surface which should provide assistance to the faster men.
More so, Jaguars and Scorpions clash at Providence was the only match of the weekend which produced a result other than draw which meant the three-time defending champions acquired 18.4 points and currently hold a 7.6-point lead over Leeward Island Hurricanes.
In third place is 2016/2017 runners up Barbados Pride on 10.4 points while Trinidad and Tobago Red Force (10.2), Windward Island Volcanoes (5.8) and Scorpions (4.2) round off of the table.
The full squad reads: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Rajendra Chandrika, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Leon Johnson (captain), Vishaul Singh, Anthony Bramble (wicketkeeper), Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Veerasammy Permaul (vice-captain) Gudakesh Motie, Keon Joesph, Sherfane Rutherford and Akshaya Persaud.
Match time is 10:00h.