By Delvon McEwan
Although the Guyana Jaguars charged to victory in the first two matches in the inaugural season of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Professional Cricket League (PCL) Regional Four-day challenge, the team’s prospects have dimmed with the replacement of crucial players, as they prepare to face off against the Barbados Pride.
Excluding the Barbadian-born and former Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) player Raymond Reifer, the 11 players who entered the field in the Jaguars’ initial games remained regular members of the national side in recent years. The team’s success came as a result of the exploits of their two most senior batsmen, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Narsingh Deonarine who together accumulated 434 runs; and the lethal bowling force of duo Veerasammy Permaul and Davendra Bishoo who combined to capture 25 of the 40 wickets.
Those performances guided Guyana to victories over the Leeward Franchise in their first game and the Windward Volcanoes in the other. The Jaguars disposed of the former by an innings and 10 runs while the Volcanoes suffered a 92-run defeat. The wins also equal Guyana’s record with the Leewards after 36 matches which now stands at 10 wins and losses, 16 drawn matches and three abandoned encounters while it bettered its record against the Windward which improved to 14 wins from 35 matches, seven losses, 14 draws and two abandoned matches.
However, if the Jaguars want to continue their winning streak, it is already evident that they will have to step up their game as they prepare to face off against one of the Regional powerhouses – the Barbados Pride – on Friday at the Guyana National Stadium as they will be without the expertise of skipper Leon Johnson, Assad Fudadin and Chanderpaul who are heading to South Africa to represent the West Indies team.
The trio’s departures will see the Jaguars led by Rayon Griffith with limited time and options to come up with their replacements. Vishaul Singh and Trevon Griffith are the two leading candidates with the third option being one of the players who had a satisfactory outing at the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) senior inter-county tourney. The most likely pick will be West Indies Under-19 player Shimron Hetmyer, who scored a century in the GCB tournament.
Despite the talented substitutes selected to replace them the trio will be missed during the four-day challenge, particularly Chanderpaul who formed key partnerships with Deonarine during the Jaguars’ three innings where they scored 53.6 % of their team’s overall total. Guyana’s next highest individual score was a mere 46 runs from wicketkeeper/batsman Anthony Bramble in Guyana’s only innings against the Leewards. None of the remaining batsmen have made significant contributions. In fact, in their first innings against the Volcanoes the Jaguars lost their last seven wickets for 28 runs. Therefore, those whose performance was not up to scratch in the previous two encounters have another chance on home soil to prove their worth or face being replaced.
Unlike their acceptable records against the Leewards and Windwards, Guyana has a poor record against the Barbadians. After 68 matches they have 12 wins, 26 losses, 30 draws and 1 abandoned match. Whether they can score another win depends heavily upon their batsmen and on Friday, the Barbados team will be pressing to continue their successful run against the team from the ‘Land of Many Waters.’
