CW/PCL Digicel Regional 4-Day Tournament 2016-17
After six completed rounds in the Cricket West Indies Professional Cricket League Digicel Regional Four Day Tournament 2016-17, two-time defending champions Guyana Jaguars have opened a gap on the points table over all opponents. With four grueling rounds to go, the Jaguars who have accumulated 84.8 points from three wins, one defeat and two incomplete encounters are 11.4 points ahead of their closest rivals, the Jamaica Scorpions who led the points table at the halfway stage.
In round six, after the break for Christmas and Super50, the Jaguars grabbed 20.2 points and reclaimed the lead after defeating the Scorpions by seven wickets at Sabina Park. The Scorpions who were on top of the points table at the break were displaced and are now in second on 73 points.
Also in winners row in round six were last season’s runners up, Barbados Pride who defeated the Leeward Islands Hurricanes and Trinidad and Tobago Red Force who beat Windward Islands Volcanoes. The Pride grabbed 20.8 points, the most of the round to go to 68 points in third spot followed by the Red Force, the Volcanoes while the Hurricanes ring up the rear. The Jaguars will meet the Red Force at the Queen’s Park Oval from Friday where they will look for their second win over the same opponents this season following the 10-wicket win in December at Providence.
The Jaguars will seek maximum points to press for their third consecutive title while the hosts will be looking to climb the table. Jason Mohammed who was on international duties for the West Indies against England has been included in the squad for the crucial clash.
At the Kensington Oval, the Pride hosts the struggling Volcanoes who lost their last game to Red Force by 172 runs and will be looking to bounce back. The final match of the round is a day/night affair at Sabina Park with the pink ball when the Scorpions host the Hurricanes who went down to Pride in their last game.
To date, Red Force opener, Kyle Hope has the most runs of the tournament having accumulated 524 runs from 11 innings while Jaguars best batsman this season Shivnarine Chanderpaul (509) and Hurricanes wicket keeper batsman Jahmar Hamilton (505) are the only other batsmen to score over 500 runs. In the bowling department, left arm spinners Nikita Miller (Scorpions) with 35 wickets and Veerasammy Permaul (Jaguars) with 30 victims and leg spinner Imran Khan (Red Force) 28 wickets lead the charts.
The next round is very critical not only to the teams but to the players who will be looking to impress the West Indies selectors ahead of the Pakistan Tour of the Caribbean for places on the various teams.
