Strengthened Pride seeking to spoil Jaguars’ party

By Akeem Greene

Hosts Barbados Pride will start today’s penultimate round of the 2017/18 Cricket West Indies/ Digicel Four-Day Championship with the ultimate goal of bringing a blemish to Guyana Jaguars quest for another unbeaten run.
Jaguars have already confirmed their status as four-time champions given their unassailable points lead but based on the views from the management they do not want to take their foot off the pedal at the Kensington Oval.

In the champions hold on the title, only Pride and Leeward Hurricanes have defeated them, which would give the hosts confidence of spoiling the party even though they are 49.2 points in the rear.
With the exception of Jason Holder and Carlos Braithwaite, Pride have the rest of marquee players returning from international duty to bolster the second-placed team which has endured an in-different season.
When a full-strength Pride met the Jaguars at the Mecca of cricket in the Region last season in a similar situation, they (Pride) were on the cusps of pulling off a crushing victory had it not been for local boy Raymon Reifer with a steely 35 in just 15 minutes shy of four hours at the crease. After pulling his team from the brink of defeat, he nearly led them to victory taking four of the five Bajan wickets to fall in pursuit of just 93 late on the final day.
The all-rounder who is now Windies newest Test addition, will again be a vital player for captain Leon Johnson. The skipper himself will be hoping to end the season on high in a bid to regurgitate his Test career.
In his eight matches, he has scored 396 runs at an average of 28.28 runs per innings but made his highest First-Class score this season with a majestic 165 against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Stepping up to the plate this season is wicketkeeper/batsman Anthony Bramble who sits third on championship’s batting charts with 493 points at an average of 49.30 while Test player Vishaul Singh is trailing closely with 485 runs at a healthy average of 53.88.
Seasoned campaigner, left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul (44) and medium-pacer Keemo Paul (32) have been the two trump cards combining to take 76 wickets. Paul in particular will be licking his lips over facing his opponents again since he was awarded the Player-of-the Match accolade for his match haul of 9-122 at Providence.
Staging the defence of home territory will be a powerful Pride unit which includes five current Test players and two others with international experience.
Discarded One Day International player Jonathon Carter (450 runs) and Shayne Moseley (412) in his debut season has propped host throughout the season but now they have the support of Test batmen Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich.
Brathwaite and Hope had hammered scores of 143 and 215 not out when they last played the champions at the Oval in March 2017.
Their chief destroyers with the ball come in the form of former Test spinner Jomel Warrican and seasoned off-spinner Kenroy Williams who snared 32 and 19 wickets respectively. However, Williams makes way for the pace artillery of Kemar Roach, Miguel Cummings and Chamar Holder.
With the exception of Pride’s humiliating innings and 4 runs defeat to the Leeward Islands Hurricanes where they failed to reach 150 in either innings earlier this season, the Bridgetown pitch has mostly produced scores in excess of 300 runs in the other two matches.
Regarding team news, all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford makes his way back in the place of injured fast-bowling spearhead Keon Joseph.
Also, Akshaya Persaud who made his debut in the last round but failed to grab the opportunity could likely miss out at the expense of original opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul who has recovered from illness.
Pride Squad: Shamarh Brooks (captain), Kraigg Brathwaite, Jonathan Carter, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Justin Greaves, Chemar Holder, Shayne Moseley, Kemar Roach, Shamar Springer, Hayden Walsh Jr, Jomel Warrican.
Jaguars squad: Leon Johnson (Captain), Vishaul Singh, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Keemo Paul, Akshaya Persaud, Raymon Reifer, Anthony Bramble (wicketkeeper), Gudakesh Motie, Veerasammy Permaul, Romario Shepherd and Sherfane Rutherford.