West Indies ‘A’ side duo, batsman Vishaul Singh and seamer Keon Joseph have been added to the Guyana Jaguars 13-man squad for their clash against the Windward Island Volcanoes beginning on Thursday at the Darren Sammy National Stadium, in St Lucia.
The pair made their way into the side after the completion of the bilateral series played against Sri Lanka ‘A’, at the expense of Bhaskar Yadram who endured a match against the Scorpions and left-arm spinner Anthony Adams who was not considered for the opening fixture.
The presence of Singh and Joseph will bring added experience to the Guyana side which dominated Jamaica in their opening fixture notwithstanding the need to continuously improve.
Singh, who has been consistent and hard to dislodge over the last few seasons, will add some stability to the batting line up that looked a bit suspect on opening day after being reduced to 150 – 6 before Anthony Bramble (62) and Sherfane Rutherford (45) featured in an 83 runs stand to pull the host out of trouble.
Chandrapaul Hemraj showed promising signs, stroking a fluent 60 while Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Rajendra Chandrika failed to convert starts in both innings.
Yadram for this double failure paid the price by being axed while Skipper Leon Johnson and Keemo Paul came to the party in the second innings, scoring 50 and 107 respectively.
Joseph, on the other hand, who is steady making a claim for a senior West Indies call-up will enhance the penetration to already solid bowling attack.
He brings variation in the form of pace and aggression to complement the spinners Veerasammy Permaul who grabbed a match haul of 10 – 84 against the Scorpions and Gudakesh Motie.
Joseph with his recent exposure can also act as a support for all-rounders Paul and Rutherford who for their age are acquitting themselves quite admirably at the regional level in the absence of Raymon Reifer.
Squad: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Rajendra Chandrika, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Leon Johnson (captain), Keemo Paul, Anthony Bramble+, Veerasammy Permaul, Gudakesh Motie, Romario Shepherd, Sherfane Rutherford, Keon Joseph, Visahul Singh and Akshaya Persaud
