‘We need to put runs on the board’
-Keon Joseph replaces Keemo Paul in squad
Guyana Jaguars Head Coach, Rayon Griffith, was yesterday adamant that his team needed to put runs on the board when they face Jamaica Scorpions in the seventh round of the Cricket West Indies Regional Four-Day Championship from today at the National Stadium, Providence.
Griffith said that the team will need to produce runs in the first innings or will inevitably be playing “catch up” which could impact the outcome of the match.
With Anthony Bramble, Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Chandrapaul Hemraj all scoring centuries this season, the Jaguars have amassed totals in excess of 350.
However, in their last two encounters the batting failed to live up to its ability and the team could only muster 150 and 182 against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force and 196 and 269 against Leeward Islands Hurricanes.
Despite gaining first innings points in those two encounters the Jaguars went on to lose both matches by outright margins.
Jaguars are currently at the top of the table with 92 points.
Despite the two losses, Griffith said the mood in the camp was good.
”The mood in the camp is still good. The players’ confidence needs a boost but team spirit is high and that’s the most important thing.”
Griffith threw his full support behind skipper, Leon Johnson who has scored 209 runs so far from 12 innings.
He expressed confidence in Johnson’s ability to turn the tide, standing firmly behind the most successful captain in the Professional Cricket League.
“You want to see the captain get some runs, we will not leave him behind. We are going to back him and believe in him and we hope he comes out and scores in this game,” Griffith said.
He was also critical of the team’s inability to put on big partnerships.
“Every game we talk about partnerships. I think we didn’t put up a lot of partnerships and the scores show if you don’t make runs in the first innings you will always play catch up.”
In terms of fielding, Griffith spoke of the need of the players to work on their fielding. He pointed out that they dropped crucial catches in the previous matches which resulted in the team suffering.
“When you drop catches you pay the price. We put down some catches and we definitely paid the price, those were critical catches also early on that developed into big partnerships,” Griffith said.
Nevertheless, a confident Griffith acknowledged his team’s strengths while indicating that the bench strength is strong.
He also informed that Keon Joseph was the replacement for Keemo Paul in the squad.
Paul was named to the West Indies team for the third test against England starting Saturday in St Lucia.
“With the absence of Keemo, Keon Joseph returns, the bench strength is always strong, so the person coming into the team will have to carry his weight. I still have that trust and believe that whatever XI we put out there, we will play some good cricket coming in this game,” Griffith stated.
Of their opponents, Griffith said: “Scorpions are always a fairly decent team. Looking at the squad you can see the strength in their squad with some experience also but at the end of the day, it’s how we come out, how we carry ourselves on the field.”
The first ball bowls off at 09:30 hrs.