Raymon Reifer might be a Barbadian but he seems to relish playing against them.
This much was evident in last weekend’s Cricket West Indies regional four-day match between the Barbados Pride and the Guyana Jaguars at the Providence National Stadium.
In the match Reifer picked up his sixth, five-wicket haul (5-20) in First-Class cricket to help the Jaguars rout the Pride for 76, one of the lowest totals in the championships.
He then followed up that 5-for with an unbeaten half century – his 14th (52 not out) to see Jaguars enjoy a 125-run lead in the first innings.
He then returned to torment his fellow Barbadians even more grabbing 4-22 in the second innings with his left-arm seam, enabling the Jaguars to get just 114 for victory, which they did.
Afterwards, Reifer was showered with praise for almost singlehandedly helping the Guyana Jaguars put a dent is the championship aspirations of the Barbados Pride as the race for honours enters the homestretch.
Back in 2014, when the 27-year-old, Barbadian first signed for the Guyana Jaguars Franchise, he was looking to build a name for himself. Now, five years on, he has cemented his name as one of the leading all-rounders in the Caribbean.
Following the match, Skipper of the Guyana Jaguars, Leon Johnson, expressed satisfaction with the efforts of Reifer.
“I think he was excellent with both bat and ball,” said Johnson.
Similar sentiments were shared by Vishaul `Cheesy’ Singh who said:“Reifer was outstanding with five wickets in the first innings that pretty much setup the match with Barbados playing catch up after that.”
Head coach of the Jaguars, Rayon Griffith also weighed in explaining that credit must go to Reifer for his all-round effort.
“Reifer had put his hands up and that’s what we are looking for, players to come out and have an excellent performance and I think Reifer had that in getting nine wickets and a half century,” said Griffith a former national cricketer.
“He always does well against this team [Pride], whenever we need someone to do well he always puts his hands up, he is one of the players who come out and mark their name,” he added.
While history shows Reifer performing well especially against the Pride, having taken match figures of 5-89 and scoring a half century when the two sides met in Barbados, Reifer has brushed off any suggestions of rivalry when playing against his home side.
“To be honest, every game I go out there with the same mindset and attitude but over the years it probably has worked out better for me against Barbados,” he said.
After receiving the Man-of-the-Match award, Reifer who has played test cricket for the West Indies, indicated that his mindset heading into the match was pretty clear.
“Just go out there and do what I know to do and let the results take care of themselves,” he declared.
Reifer, who comes from a family of four First-Class cricketers has scored 2,613 runs with a best of 108 not out at an average of 26.66 while taking 152 wickets at an average of 24.
