Hungry Jaguars depart for Super50 glory

By Akeem Greene

Its has been close to 12 years since Guyana have won a regional 50-over title and national team, Guyana Jaguars, departed on Saturday morning determined to change that predicament.

Jaguars have been roaring to full capacity in the 4-day format winning back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016 are also currently positioned in a solid place for unprecedented third. However, their performance in the 50-over format has certainly been tame.

With such a history in mind, Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Anand Sanasie who spoke to the squad at the Windjammer International Hotel prior to departure, urged the players to remember the winning formulae and felt that the title jinx could be broken this year.

“Once again we see you off and this time it is extremely special because for some reason, I feel this is the time we will break this jinx on the 50-over,” the GCB executive stated. He added, ” We must make winning a habit and we have done that in the 4-day but for this particular tournament we have not been doing that, we have dominated regional cricket over the past two to three years and this is the only tournament that has eluded us and this is the time that we can change that.”

Similarly, GCB Treasurer Anand Kalladeen gave the players best wished and urged them to perform well considering the England will be touring the Caribbean for three One-day matches in February

In response, skipper Leon Johnson stated that though he cannot make any predications as yet, but he believes that he has the best set of players in Guyana for the tournament and that all the players will give a 100% to bring the trophy back home. Jaguars who are drawn in Zone B alongside Barbados Pride, Jamaica Scorpions, Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners and ICC Americas, will play all their preliminary matches in the land of the flying fish and will hope for a top two finish for a place in the semi-finals and then the final on February 18. Zone A is being played in Antigua where the semi-finals and final will be played as well. The Jaguars will play their first match on Tuesday from 13:30h against hosts, Barbados Pride at the Kensington Oval.

Jaguars squad: Leon Johnson (Captain), Veerasammy Permaul (Vice-Captain), Anthony Bramble, Shimron Hetmyer, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Christopher Barnwell, Raymon Reifer, Rajendra Chandrika, Steven Jacobs, Assad Fudadin, Devendra Bishoo, Ronsford Beaton, Paul Wintz, Jonathan Foo, Esuan Crandon (Head Coach), Rayon Griffith (Assistant- Coach/Manager), Ernesto Gonzalez (Physiotherapist)