– 6 new faces included
Fresh off a fourth consecutive title in the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Four-Day Tournament, the Guyana Jaguars have selected six new players for the Super50 which begins on January 30 in Barbados and Antigua.
After churning out decent performances in the domestic 50-over Jaguars franchise league, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Keemo Paul, Sherfane Rutherford, Ramaal Lewis, Clinton Pestano and Ricardo Adams have earned their maiden calls to the Regional side and will look to make full use of the opportunity.
They will join Leon Johnson, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Anthony Bramble, Shimron Hetmyer, Veerasammy Permaul, Raymon Reifer and Romario Shepherd in the 14-man squad as the Jaguars align themselves in Group B alongside English County side Kent, Unites States, Jamaica Scorpions and the Leeward Islands Hurricanes in Antigua.
While Paul has played at this level before, it is the first time he will be representing the Jaguars having played 11 matches for the Windies Under 19 teams in the past. Additionally, Shepherd has only played one match in the 2016 season having missed out last year when Ronsford Beaton and Paul Wintz were chosen as the fast bowlers.
However, both seamers are not selected thus paving the way for Shepherd to extend his promising career alongside fellow Berbician Pestano.
It is understood that Windies “A” team fast bowler Keon Joseph is still recovering from injury.
Also missing out this year are, batsmen Rajendra Chandrika, Jonathan Foo and Assad Fudadin, seasoned off-spinner Steven Jacobs and longstanding all-rounder Christopher Barnwell.
The batting will resolve around Johnson, Chanderpaul, Hemraj and the all-rounders in Paul, Reifer and Rutherford while in the spin department, former Windies Under 19 captain off-spinner Ramaal Lewis joins Permaul and Bishoo. Left-arm spinner Adams is expected to add depth to both the spin and batting departments where he is more than useful.
The Jaguars who last won a Regional 50-Over title in 2005 will begin their campaign on January 31 against Kent at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in a day game beginning at 09:00h.
Group A will be contested in Barbados and includes the hosts, Barbados Pride, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, Hampshire, Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners and the Windward Islands Volcanoes.
Jaguars full squad reads; Shimron Hetmyer, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Leon Johnson, Raymon Reifer, Anthony Bramble, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Clinton Pestano, Ricardo Adams and Ramaal Lewis.
