PCL: Jaguars eager to take on Red Force today

The Guyana Jaguars will go into action once again, this time on their home turf, as they hunt a much-needed victory in the Professional Cricket League’s Regional Four-Day Tournament.

The National Stadium Providence will host its first PCL Four-Day 2020 game today, in this, the third round of action. Playing on home soil, the Guyana Jaguars will look to put a stop to the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, who are currently leading the league on points.
The Jaguars on 24.8 points are not far behind their counterparts from the twin-island republic who sit on 29.6 points, but a solid win will augur well for the five-time champions.
Looking at the teams’ performances thus far, the Red Force continued their strong start to the season, when they crushed Hurricanes by an innings and 168 runs on home soil. But Jaguars stumbled when their batting failed to fire in Barbados.

For both teams in this contest, the scenery changes for the first time this season. It will be the Jags’ first match on home soil, where they are most comfortable, and the Red Force’s first on the road, which will add some intrigue.
The Guyana National Stadium has been a fortress for the Jaguars during their five successive championship runs. They have lost just three matches at this venue during that period and have beaten Red Force in their last four matches there.
In addition, the Jags have won eight of the 10 matches between the two sides in the Professional Cricket League era of the championship, but Red Force claimed an unexpected 93-run victory last season, albeit on home soil.

The main storyline for this contest will be, therefore, to see whether the Jaguars can get their groove back on home soil and if their loss last weekend was just a blip. Can Red Force penetrate the home team’s defence and continue their early success this season?
Bowling appears to be the strength in both teams, but the batting will decide the outcome and Red Force appear to have the edge so far this season, batting once and piling up a couple of big totals in their two previous matches.

Jaguars’ expectations

Speaking on the Jaguars’ shaky batting performance in Barbados where they lost to the home team, Barbados Pride last week, Assistant Coach and Guyanese legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul noted that getting the players to construct big innings was a point of concern that has been worked on.

“We talked about that and that’s one of our plans, to get somebody to carry on and get big scores…hundreds. We had a couple of starts, three 50s in Barbados and a few also in Antigua, but I think we’re playing a little bit loose. We need to dig in, get focused and start to back the innings a little and try to stay in as long as you can and hopefully get big scores,” Chanderpaul disclosed.
When probed about coming up against a steady Red Force team, who have a draw and a win from two games played, Chanderpaul was keen to admit the high quality of the opposing team, but shared that once the Jaguars’ game plan went well, there would be no worries for the five-time champions.
“They’re playing well right now; they’ve had a good couple of games so far. Hopefully, if things go well for us and things go well to what we’ve planned, we can hopefully do well in this game,” he stated.

Red Force: Not intimidated
On the other side of the coin, the Red Force outfit is in high spirits and did not seem to be intimidated by the Jaguars’ home advantage. Captain Darren Bravo told Guyana Times Sport that while his team were aware of Guyana’s “powerhouse” status, the Trinidadian team were ready to stand up to their test.
“We are quite confident to be honest; the guys have been playing some brilliant cricket in the tournament so far, so we’ll come up against one of the powerhouses in this format of the game and obviously, they have dominated this format. Winning five in a row, obviously coming to their home ground is going to be a challenge, but I think the guys are looking forward to the challenge,” Bravo revealed.
Bravo, who is currently the second highest run scorer thus far with 199 runs, behind Jamaica Scorpions’ Paul Palmer (262 runs), shared with this publication that he was not too focused on his individual performance, but rather the development of the younger players on his team.
“I just want to continue leading from the front as much as possible. I’m just trying to take that level of responsibility and I’m trying to help out the younger guys on the team as much as possible,” he noted.
The four-day encounter, which will begin tomorrow and is expected to run until January 26, will begin at 10:00h daily. The full Guyana Jaguars squad reads Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Vishaul Singh, Leon Johnson, Christopher Barnwell, Ronaldo Alimohamed, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Davendra Bishoo, Tevin Imlach, Veerasammy Permaul, Keon Joseph and Nial Smith. Alimohamed has come into the team as a replacement for an injured Raymon Reifer, while Gudakesh Motie and Sherfane Rutherford have also missed selection owing to injuries.
Rayon Griffith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Neil Barry will be acting in the capacity of Head Coach, Assistant Coach and physiotherapist respectively.
The Red Force team remain unchanged and read: Darren Bravo (Captain); Yannic Cariah; Bryan Charles; Joshua da Silva; Terrance Hinds; Akeal Hosein; Kissoondath Magram; Jason Mohammed; Uthman Muhammed; Yannick Ottley; Keagan Simmons; Odean Smith; and Jeremy Solozano.
Also, in the PCL, the Windward Islands Volcanoes will go head to head with the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground, Gros Islet, S. Lucia. Meanwhile, the Jamaica Scorpions will enjoy a home advantage as they take on the Barbados Pride at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica. (Jemima Holmes)