Vintage Barnwell puts Jaguars back on top

…Key clash with Scorpions today

Fluid half centuries from Christopher Barnwell and Shimron Hetmyer led the Guyana Jaguars to a comfortable five wicket win over Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the CWI Super50 at Coolidge Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
Batting first after being sent in, the Leeward Islands Hurricanes led by Devon Thomas’ unbeaten century posted what could have been a competitive 216 for 8, but as it turned out the four-day champions had very little problems overhauling the target after posting 217 for 5. The Hurricanes were missing key players who are on Windies “A” team duties including centurion from the last clash with the two teams, Rahkeem Cornwall and found themselves in early trouble after losing captain Kofi James in the fourth over.
James was caught by Bramble off the bowling of Romario Shepherd who then returned to have Keacy Carty (15) dismissed in identical fashion, which left the hosts struggling at 2 for 24. Things looked even bleaker when Akeem Charles, who strode to the crease next, was sent back to the pavilion without troubling the score. Steady batting from Thomas, however, kept the innings steady despite wickets falling regularly around him.
Akeal Hosein remained with him at the crease at the end of the innings after adding a quick 23 from 20. Shepherd and Devendra Bishoo claimed three wickets each for Guyana.
In response, opener Chanderpaul Hemraj (30) got the Jaguars off to a solid start, but became the first victim of Terance Ward, who ended with figures of 4 for 37. Warde then also accounted for veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul who added 14 from 48 balls before being caught by Akeem Charles. Leon Johnson was next to go caught at short fine-leg after scooping a ball on middle stump. The Jaguars were then struggling at 65 for 3 after 16 overs.
A 144 run wicket stand between Barnwell who cracked 89 from 93 deliveries and Hetmyer who tallied 60 from 95 balls took the game well out of the reach of the Leewards. With eight required for victory, Warde had Barnwell caught at deep mid-wicket before Shefane Rutherford joined Hetmyer to see out the easy win.
With the win, the Jaguars have moved to 22 points ahead of Jamaica Scorpions who are in second place in Group B on 19 points followed by Kent Spitfires on 17.
This means that there is a three-way race for the two play-off spots which makes today’s matches very crucial.
Kent with two preliminary matches in the bag will take on bottom of the table USA today and should take full points from the encounter and will then fancy themselves for a play-off spot when they finish this segment of the tournament against the Hurricanes on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars go in to their final preliminary round match today against the Scorpions looking for nothing but a win to secure their spot in the next phase of the tournament.
When these two teams last met, the Scorpions won by 46 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis Method in a rain affected match. In that game, Andre McCarthy played a beautiful innings of 105 that saw the Scorpions scoring 264 for 9 then restricting their opponents for 168 chasing a revised target of 215 from 34 overs with only Shimron Hetmyer passing 18 runs while Nikita Miller picked up four wickets.
After today, the Scorpions will have wrap up this phase with a clash against USA on Sunday as they look for maximum points.
For the Jaguars, Barnwell, Hemraj and Hetmyer are the batsmen in form and will look to avenge their previous flop and put a winning total on the board and allow the bowlers to have a good run against the Scorpions.
Andre Russell is fresh off a match-winning century and will no doubt carry the Scorpions batting with Chadwick Walton, Mc Carthy and Brandon King who are all in good nick. There is no Nikita Miller this time around but the Scorpions attack is potent enough to do the job like they did when they restricted Kent to 239 in their most previous game.
The Jaguars are looking for their first 50-over title since 2005 but will first have to make it to the semifinals which are on February 21 and 22.
In today’s encounter, the first ball is at 14:00h at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in another day/night treat for the Antiguans.