Captain of the Combined Campuses and Colleges team (CCC) Steven Jacobs said getting the better of his Guyanese counterparts whom he played with for most of his cricketing career was pleasing for him and his team.
“It was a good feeling to play against guys that you have been playing all your life with and to get the better of them in the end was pleasing,” said the 25 year-old Guyanese who spoke with Stabroek Sports on Friday during an exclusive interview from Trinidad and Tobago.
Jacobs also gave a bit of insight as to what it was like captaining a side against the country of his birth and comprehensively toppling the team in the end.
Guyana succumbed to the Jacobs led CCC team by seven wickets in the fourth round of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional 4-day tournament after four competitive days of first-class cricket. The match was said to be a tactical encounter due to the respective captains involved in the game being countrymen and teammates alike for Guyana over the years.
Prior to the match, Guyanese skipper Leon Johnson was hailed for his strategic approach to the game by the team’s manager Alvin Johnson who was also wary of a possible counter from Jacobs who he also dubbed a “tactical leader” after working with both players during their careers.
Despite CCC’s eventual win, Jacobs pointed out that his opposite number was as effective and resourceful as he expected him to be while constantly challenging him throughout the encounter. “Leon is a good leader, but I just wanted to concentrate on my job while trying to get a win to stay in contention,” said Jacobs.
“I think the match was generally a tough game but we won the last day which was important,” said the all-rounder who commended his compatriots for the competitiveness shown during the game.
He also admitted that he was able to seize the advantage against the Guyanese and counteract some of their strengths in the respective departments after knowing their strategies. “I know their strengths and weakness so we just tried to exploit that and it worked,” he said.
The match produced two centuries from CCC opener Shacaya Thomas, who scored a mammoth 176 in the first innings and wicket-keeper Chadwick Walton, who scored a responsible 107 while CCC’s off-break bowler Ryan Austin claimed nine wickets in the match and the leg-break spinner Akeem Dewar bagged four, as CCC out played the Guyanese in both departments.
”Thomas and Walton got hundreds and also Dewar and Austin bowled well, but generally we played good team cricket,” said Jacobs who pinpointed those performances as the positives that he extracted out of the CCC/Guyana clash.
The all-rounder humbly maintained that the match was not about making statements but was a reflection of his primary focus which is doing a job that he loves to the best of his ability while being able to contribute to the success of the CCC team now and in the future.
