…as Jaguars depart for elusive Super50 title
By Akeem Greene
Sprung on confidence after a fourth consecutive Regional four-day title, Guyana Jaguars departed these shores just around 06:15 hrs on Sunday destined to Antigua where they compete in Cricket West Indies Regional Super50.
It is not the first time, the players and management dressed neatly in their yellow and blacked attire boarded a flight with a four-day trophy in their showroom but could not return with the 50-over equivalent. Since 2005 when they defeated Barbados in fading light at the Georgetown Cricket Club, Bourda, they have not won the Super50.
Each year the post-mortem of the unsuccessful tour points towards a lack of positivity, especially concerning their batting. Captain Leon Johnson feels the breath of new and exciting players will add greater value to the team’s dynamics.
“The way one day cricket is going, scores like 250 are not very challenging anymore, depending on the conditions. Teams now are pushing to get 300 and sometimes that is par, so we definitely have to be positive in our approach but selective and sensible at the same time”, the captain told Guyana Times Sport prior to departure at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport at Ogle.
Compared to the last season, where they failed to reach the semi-finals, selectors made six changes to their 14-man squad with Chandrapaul Hemraj, Keemo Paul, Sherfane Rutherford, Ramaal Lewis, Clinton Pestano and Ricardo Adams earning their maiden calls.
“I am very excited; these guys would bring a different energy to the team. The younger guys have brought new dynamics to the team and hopefully it goes well in the tournament”.
He added, “the youths have done well, young [Sherfane] Rutherford and Keemo [Paul] have done well in t four-day cricket and looked decent in the T20 tournament played late last year [October] in Antigua”.
The signs of promise also stems from the said players producing the goods during their practice match against a ‘Rest XI’ at Providence on Friday. Shimron Hetmyer spanked a score of 101 while Anthony Bramble and Rutherford had belligerent knocks of 86 and 74 respectively; Paul also cracked a 20-ball 48 in the 386-8 total they posted.
“Play in the practice match was good and I was very stratified with the effort that was put out by the players; very pleasing and the bowlers did a good job”.
All is well with having exciting young players whom much is expected but the question of handling pressure usually defines how adept they are for this level of cricket and the out-of favour Windies player contended this brigade will learn.
“One of the things we talk about in the four –day is the pressure situations because you will always come under pressure and it will happen especially in white-ball cricket. It is just how you handle those situations; I would like them [young players] to learn and experience it for themselves, we the seniors will be there to guide”.
Stepping up
The skipper is firm on the concept of senior players leading and delivering the results. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Devendra Bishoo, Veerasammy Permaul have an abundance of experience at this level which the 30 year-old plans on making good use.
“We senior player need to stand up and produce the performances; when the senior players lead from the front, it says good for the team and the youngsters obviously follow”.
He further stated, “we have to put the runs on the board; I was leading runs scorer [for the team]last year but that did not count for much as we didn’t get through to the semi-final so it’s about getting good performances so you can get your team into a championship position”.
Jaguars are aligned in Group ‘B’ alongside English County side Kent, Unites States, 2017 runners-up Jamaica Scorpions and the Leeward Islands Hurricanes. They begin their campaign on Wednesday against Kent at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground from 09:00 hrs
Group ‘A’ will be contested in Barbados and includes defending champions Barbados Pride, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, Hampshire, Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners and the Windward Islands Volcanoes.
Jaguars full squad reads; Shimron Hetmyer, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Leon Johnson (cpt), Raymon Reifer, Anthony Bramble (wkpt), Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Clinton Pestano, Ricardo Adams and Ramaal Lewis.
