Unchanged Jaguars team battle Scorpions from today
An unchanged Guyana Jaguars squad will look to solidify their spot at the top of the table when they face Jamaica Scorpions in the eighth round of the Cricket West Indies Regional Four-Day Championships at Sabina Park, Jamaica, from today.
The defending champions are comfortably in the lead with 112.4 points with Scorpions hovering in fifth place with 59 points.
The Jaguars players should be well rested from a week’s break after defeating the very opposition at Providence Stadium, Guyana, in round seven.
Skipper of the defending champions, Leon Johnson, expressed his satisfaction with the tactical efforts made by his troops but noted that the team remains business oriented heading into the back end of the competition.
Johnson, with 328 runs so far in the competition, said his confidence was high coming off of successive half centuries and he is hoping to have some big scores to finish the season.
Like Johnson, Chandrapaul Hemraj also shares similar views. He indicated that it is his ambition to score at least three more centuries this season.
Wicketkeeper/batsman, Anthony Bramble, and opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul have contributed the bulk of the Jaguars’ runs with 405 and 436 runs respectively.
The bowlers have shared the workload but left-arm spinner, Veerasammy Permaul, remains out front with 33 wickets while fellow left-arm spinner, Gudakesh Motie, has 14 wickets so far.
Romario Shepherd has shown his value as a genuine all-rounder with 24 wickets and 266 runs while another all-rounder, Raymon Reifer, has 14 wickers and 136 runs.
Clinton Pestano, who was rested the last time the two sides met due to a niggling knee injury, is expected to be back on the field. He has scored 199 runs and taken 17 wickets.
Head Coach of the reigning champions Reon Griffith said the side is brimming with confidence having bounced back from successive losses and was working hard on fine-tuning the little areas.
Scorpions, with the title already eluding them, will nevertheless would want to put on a good showing.
They have relied heavily on batsman Chadwick Walton who scored 443 runs to date with Guyanese Assad Fudadin being their next highest run getter with 296.
With the ball, Jerome Taylor and chinaman bowler Dennis Bulli have taken the bull by its horn with 17 and 18 wickets respectively.
The Scorpions, however, will be looking for more meaningful contributions from its middle order which has struggled throughout the tournament.