Guyana Jaguars head coach Esaun Crandon has warned his team about being complacent heading into the final round of the Professional Cricket league (PCL) four-day tournament which resumes on Friday against Jamaica at Sabina Park.
Crandon, via a telephone interview yesterday said that he was adamant about finishing off the tournament in high fashion. “All games are important, we plan on taking them one game at time. Jamaica has beaten us at that venue over the past years, so we want to go out and play better cricket and extend our lead,” said the coach.
So far the Jaguars have disposed of; Windward Islands Volcanoes and Leeward Islands Hurricanes on home soil at the Guyana National Stadium, before losing to Barbados Pride in a shocking come-from-behind win. They then travelled to Trinidad for the final first round match of the competition before the tournament closed its first leg and whipped the Red Force in front their Queen’s Park Oval home crowd.
Guyana’s ascension to the top of the points table with 57 points was mainly due to their much improved batting order along with their lethal bowling unit which proved that taking 20 wickets in a match is far from impossible.
Crandon pointed out that a strengthened batting unit which consists of; skipper Leon Johnson, Narsingh Deonarine, Shiv Chanderpaul, Vishaul Singh along with the inform spinners Devendra Bishoo and Veerasammy Permaul, he is optimistic that the team can again bank on their balance, form and experience in both departments to win.
The blow for Guyana is the loss of Assad Fudadin who was not able to recover in time ahead of the Jamaica encounter. Fudadin broke his finger during a training session with the West Indies recently in their South Africa tour as is currently recovering after a six week period.
The left-hander’s absence was described by the Coach as a “Blow” to the team, “Losing Fudadin is a blow, having his experience would have been a boost for us but we have some good young players in the side who did well for us before so we will be hoping for another good exhibition from them”.
Wickets from number one leading wicket taker Permaul and number three Bishoo, backed up by centuries from Deonarine and Singh have certainly made the Jaguars the team to beat, but Crandon also believes that those performances were “Confidence boosters” for the team and hopes to replicate the same intent and hunger come these final rounds.
In conclusion, the former national all-rounder is confident that once basic plans and strategies are stuck to the team can go out and win the four day title with ease. “We will take our games one at a time and we will bank on our bowlers to pick up wickets.
But cricket is a funny game and if you get complacent then you know what happens, so we just want to carry the right attitude and hope to come out successful”, said Crandon.
The Jaguars winged out for Jamaican in the wee hours of this morning and will engaged in a practice match tomorrow before seeking to open their account with a win against the homes side.
