Three-time defending champions, Guyana Jaguars had two full training sessions at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba Trinidad and are confident of topping the hosts in their crucial day/night fourth round match in the Digicel Regional 4-Day tournament beginning today.
On Tuesday, the Jaguars had a session under the lights at the relatively new venue and on Wednesday there was a day session. Head coach Esuan Crandon,
Red Force Captain Denish Ramdin (left) in a serious chat with veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul on Wednesday at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy
told Guyana Times Sport that they are confident and will not do anything different in the top of the table clash. “We had some quality work over the two days and the guys are confident… The pitch looks a little bit slow and we expect it to play the same but the pink ball seems to be doing a lot more at nights so we will try to plan and execute accordingly while sticking to the basics,” Crandon stated.
Meanwhile, Captain Leon Johnson said he has been following the progress of the Red Force whom he acknowledged are playing good cricket. “They [Red Force] have been playing good cricket thus far but we will be looking to do the basics right and take it session by session and see how it goes.”
In terms of the worrying opening position, Johnson said “when the final XI is selected we are hoping that the openers get it right and not expose the middle order too early.” Another concern for the Jaguars so far is Johnson’s own form and
Jaguars pacer Romario Shepherd during an extended session on Wednesday in Trinidad (John Ramsingh photos)
when questioned about it the skipper said, “I am not too worried; I am confident in my ability and am backing myself to get runs in the games to come.”
The Jaguars are currently the table toppers with 46.6 points having begun the season with a victory over the Scorpions in round one at home and have since beaten the Volcanoes in St. Lucia then pulled off a remarkable come-from-behind draw against the Hurricanes in their last game.
In the drawn encounter, the Jaguars were rescued in the first innings by Vishaul Singh with 97 not out and by Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the second innings with a counter-attacking 109. Vishaul Singh is the Jaguars best batsman so far with 258 runs from two matches while Anthony Bramble (235), Sherfane Rutherford (166), Chandrapaul Hemraj (158), Keemo Paul (126), Leon Johnson (124) and Shiv Chanderpaul (114) all have more than 100 runs.
The Jaguars batting will most likely be the same but they may be tempted to bring in Gudakesh Motie on a pitch that may offer some assistance to the spinners. However, the question will once again be, who will sit out?
This becomes difficult to answer since the two fast bowlers, Keon Joseph (3 wickets) and Romario Shepherd (6 wickets) and the all medium fast bowling all-rounders in Sherfane Rutherford (12 wickets) and Keemo Paul (7 wickets) have settled in nicely.
On the other hand, second placed Red Force (41.4 points) are coming off their first victory of the season when the quelled the Volcanoes in three days at the Queen’s Park Oval last weekend.
Like the Jaguars, they have a number of internationally-capped players which will make the match far more competitive. In the last six encounters between the sides, the Jaguars have won five and the other ended in a draw. But with the presence of Denesh Ramdin, Jason Mohammed, Kyle Hope and last season’s leading batsman Yannic Cariah in the batting, along with left-arm fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell to spearhead the attack gives the Red Force an edge to turn things around.
Ramdin has so far scored two centuries on his way to 316 runs while Tian Webster (201 runs), Yannic Cariah (176 runs) and Jason Mohammed (113 runs) are the other Red Force centurions.
This is only the second First Class match at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy and despite the first game two weeks ago saw some runs being scored, it is no real prediction how it will hold up for this mega encounter. The first ball is at 14:00h
Squads: Red Force (from) – Denesh Ramdin (captain), Yannic Cariah, Bryan Charles, Sheldon Cottrell, Kyle Hope, Amir Jangoo, Imran Khan, Jason Mohammed, Khary Pierre, Roshon Primus, Jeremy Solozano, Daniel St. Clair, Tion Webster.
Jaguars (from) – Leon Johnson (captain), Anthony Bramble, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Rajendra Chandrika, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Keon Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Keemo Paul, Veerasammy Permaul, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Vishaul Singh
The on-field Umpires for the match are Zahid Bassarath (Trinidad and Tobago) and Johnathan Blades (Barbados) while the Reserve Umpire is Lyndon Rajkumar and the Match Referee is Hayden Bruce.
In the other round four matches, the third placed Hurricanes (38.6 points) will host the fifth placed Scorpions (18.2 points) at Warner Park and bottom of the table, the Volcanoes (15.6 points) host the Pride who are in fourth position with 23.2 points at the Arnos Vale Play Field in St. Vincent.
