Jaguars rope in Reifer, Permaul ahead of today’s semis
-Hodge joins Volcanoes
Guyana Jaguars will be boosted by the inclusion of Raymon Reifer and Veerasammy Permaul for today’s semi-final clash against Windward Islands Volcanoes in the CG Insurance Regional Super50 Cup.
This was confirmed by a release from Cricket West Indies (CWI) detailing that the lefthanded all-rounder, Reifer and left-arm spinner, Permaul will be replacing wicketkeeper Kemol Savory and opening batsman Assad Fudadin.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Jaguars’ captain, Leon Johnson, said that he believes that the addition of the two West Indies players will boost the side and gives the team “headache” in selecting the playing XI if everyone in the squad is fit.
“The inclusion of Veerasammy and Raymon obviously gives the team and the guys a big boost. We’ve been playing well and to have two international guys come back, Raymon brings another dimension with his left-arm seam bowling and we all know Veerasammy, a crafty operator so it’s good to have these guys back,” Johnson said.
Permaul comes in as the most capped player in the squad with 93 appearances in List A cricket and 131 wickets while Reifer has featured in 67 matches and scored 10 half-centuries to complement his 69 wickets.
For Volcanoes, Kavem Hodge comes in as a replacement for Desron Maloney. His inclusion was also welcomed by Volcanoes’ skipper, Sunil Ambris, who credited his experience and all-round abilities.
“He brings a lot, I mean he is one of the better players in the team. He is an all-rounder, he is likely to give us 10 overs and as I said he is one of the better batters in the team and he has a lot of experience. He’s been around this Windward Islands team for a while and he knows what it’s like to win a championship,” Ambris said.
Johnson was also wary of Hodge’s inclusion while noting that his troops do not want to become complacent after their nine-wicket win in the group stage.
The Jaguars captain explained, “, we don’t want to get complacent after a good victory on Monday and we know they have probably one of the better players returning. Kavem returning to strengthen their side and as I said to Mr. Spooner, Windward had beaten us in a semi-final already a couple of years ago so obviously they aren’t to be taken lightly, they have quality players in their side and you know in limited overs cricket it’s one day so the team that plays better on the day come out victorious.”
Both captains contended that there are areas which need to be improved on as they look to move one step closer to the Sir Clive Trophy.
“There are a couple of things we need to get right, there are a couple of times we collapsed against Barbados and against Trinidad probably the two better bowling attacks in the competition and we didn’t bat 50 overs, we batted just over 40 overs and that is something we spoke about and is something we don’t want to occur in the knockout.
“We’ve gotten better in the field last game we put down a chance but we’ve gotten better as we progressed. I think fielding is a big part of limited overs cricket and I generally feel the team that field better tend to win tournaments, field better consistently,” said Johnson.
On the other hand Ambris said that he was pleased with the way his team began the tournament.
“We started off really well. I think we played two really poor games but I think the comradery in the team is still really good. The guys are still high spirited and looking forward to the semifinal. We know we didn’t get off to a good start with the bat and that’s something we’ve been struggling with throughout the tournament so that is something we definitely need to address, they seem to be a good batting side, they chase, even though it wasn’t a big total they chased it pretty comfortably...”
Jaguars’ batting has centered on Chandrapaul Hemraj, who at the top of the order has racked up 195 runs so far while Christopher Barnwell (170) and Leon Johnson (109) have notched up centuries already. Shimron Hetmyer has also been among the runs with a tally of 167 inclusive of two half centuries.
Jaguars have been faced with troubles at the top of the order but that seems to be settled with Tevin Imlach joining Hemraj. In the two innings together, the pair added 106 against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force and 62 versus Volcanoes.
Johnson expressed, “He [Imlach] has been putting in a lot of work when he has not been playing. He is a young guy, very fit guy and he works hard on his game. He came in and got his opportunity against Trinidad and did relatively well. I think the left/right combination at the top of the order, over the seasons I think we’ve always had the left handers opening and I think that makes it a bit easier for teams to plan against us…”
For Volcanoes, Ambris has been the point man with 192 runs, highlighted by two fifties along with Keron Cottoy (175) and Kevin Stoute (172) who have propped up the batting order.
In terms of bowling, both teams have been spearheaded by left-arm spinners. In Jaguars’ case, Gudakesh Motie leads the pack and the tournament with a dozen wickets and will be the perfect foil for Permaul while Larry Edwards has been the most impactful bowler for Volcanoes with seven wickets and will be supported by Hodge while Ryan John and Preston McSween has five wickets each.
The semi-final and final start at 1:30pm local time (12:30pm Jamaica Time) and will be live on ESPN Caribbean and live on radio coverage on 10 regional radio stations in partnership with Vibes FM.
The winners of the two semifinals will meet in the grand final on Saturday at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, where the champions will be awarded the CG Insurance Super50 Sir Clive Lloyd Trophy.
Guyana Jaguars: Leon Johnson (captain), Shimron Hetmyer (vice-captain), Christopher Barnwell, Anthony Bramble, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Tevin Imlach, Keon Joseph, Ramaal Lewis, Gudakesh Motie,
Veerasammy Permaul, Akshaya Persaud, Raymon Reifer, Romario Shepherd, Kevin Sinclair, Nial Smith; Esuan Crandon (Head Coach)
Windward Islands Volcanoes: Sunil Ambris (captain), Andre Fletcher (vice-captain), Alick
Athanaze, Roland Cato, Keron Cottoy, Kenneth Dember, Larry Edward, Kavem Hodge, Ryan John, Ray Jordan, Kimani Melius, Preston McSween, Kevin Stoute, Emmanuel Stewart, Obed McCoy; Andrew Richardson (Head Coach)
Spinner Axar Patel claimed a career-best 6-38 as India bundled out England for 112 on the opening day to take charge of the day-night third test in Ahmedabad yesterday.
Rohit Sharma then helped the hosts weather a top-order wobble of their own to finish an eventful 13-wicket day on 99-3.
Rohit was unbeaten on 57 at the close with Ajinkya Rahane on one and India were eyeing a handy first-innings lead with the series level at 1-1.
Earlier, England captain Joe Root’s decision to bat backfired as the touring side folded in 48.4 overs inside two seasons despite Zak Crawley’s stroke-filled 53.
On a track where the ball spun from the first session, the English batsmen repeatedly played for the turn and got beaten by the straight ball. They made four changes to their team but a rejigged top order failed.
Playing his 100th test, seamer Ishant Sharma dismissed Dom Sibley in the third over before the spinners took over.
Left-armer Patel trapped Jonny Bairstow lbw for nought with his first delivery.
At the other end, Crawley appeared to be batting on a different pitch, dealing mostly in boundaries and bringing up his fifty off 68 balls.
Before his partnership with Root could really flourish, however, Ravichandran Ashwin (3-26) intervened.
The wily off-spinner dismissed Root lbw for 17. The England
captain reviewed the decision but could not get it overturned.
Patel ended Crawley’s knock in similar fashion to trigger a batting collapse and England lost their last eight wickets for 38 runs.
“The odd ball did spin but the pink-ball mostly skidded. SO our effort was to bowl wicket-towicket,” Patel told a video conference.
“We stuck to that line and pace because we know if batsmen tried to play us off back foot, there were higher chances of getting them lbw or bowled.”
It was a sense of deja vu for England who were dismissed for 58 in their previous pink-ball test in New Zealand three years ago.
Crawley was hopeful England could still fight back.
“We have very strong seamers and back our seamers on any surface,” the opener said.
“If we had got more runs we
could have helped our bowlers out a little bit more.”
India did not find scoring easy either against the swinging pink ball in the final session.
The usually fluent Shubman Gill took 27 balls to open his account while Rohit mixed caution with occasional aggression in his fifty.
Jofra Archer dismissed Gill for 11 and Jack Leach removed Cheteshwar Pujara for a duck but Rohit’s 64-run partnership with Virat Kohli helped India maintain their upper hand in the contest.
Ollie Pope dropped Kohli at gully but Leach dismissed the India captain when he chopped a delivery on to his stumps to depart for 27 in the final over.
Around 40,000 fans filled the world’s largest cricket stadium which was named after India Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier yesterday.