Despite the fact that the Hits and Jams Spartans team possess a quartet of the most explosive Twenty20 players in the world cricket, its captain Tyrell Tull is downplaying his team’s chances of winning this weekend’s Jamzone Masters Cup competition which commences Friday at the Providence National Stadium. “We begin our preparation today (yesterday) and will be looking to play to the best of our ability. The guys know that not because we will be having four of the best T20 players in the world in our team that we will win,” said Tull at the Everest Cricket Club ground yesterday where the Spartans conducted their first practice game.
Tull, who was the Guyana wicket-keeper when they triumphed in the inaugural Stanford T20 tournament in Antigua back in 2006, suggested that the defending champions, Berbice Titans, were the true giants of the competition.
“Berbice Titans, the defending champions is the team to beat based on how dominant teams from Berbice have been on the local cricket scene in recent years. “Our local players are well aware of the task ahead to blend well as a team and to do well well this year,” he added. In the practice match yesterday against a Buxton XI, a clinical all-round performance from Jeetendra Sookdeo with support from former Guyana Under-19 all-rounder Anthony Adams propelled the Spartans to a comfortable 85-run victory. Batting first the Hits and Jams Spartans scored 139/6 of their allotted 20 overs with Sookdeo and Adams, the major contributors with 41 and 32 runs respectively.
The Buxton unit in reply never challenged and they were bundled out for a paltry 54. Sookdeo and Adams were the principal wicket-takers with impressive figures of 3-1-5-4 and 4-0-9-3.
The Hits and Jams Spartans along with Berbice Titans, New Line Cavaliers and Georgetown Kings XI will have further practice matches in the coming days before the competitions bowls off on Friday.
Guest players Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine are all scheduled to join the Spartans by Thursday.
