GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Five-time reigning champions Guyana Jaguars will not be pressing the panic button on their four-day title defence just yet, batting coach Shivnarine Chanderpaul has assured.
Jaguars crashed to their second defeat in four matches last weekend when they went down to previously winless Jamaica Scorpions by seven runs, early on the final day.
Not for the first time this season, their batting came under the spotlight after they failed to chase down 182 for victory at the National Stadium.
“It was not an easy pitch to bat on, because some of the guys had starts but were never able to carry on,” Chanderpaul told the Chronicle newspaper here.
“We have a lot of fifties but no hundreds yet. We have some plans and goals that we have set for ourselves. It’s still early in the tournament so hopefully coming down to the next couple of game we could start hitting them.”
Jaguars made an emphatic start to their campaign with a 10-wicket win over Leeward Islands Hurricanes in Antigua before suffering a seven-wicket defeat to Barbados Pride in Bridgetown.
Hopes that a return home would bring them better luck were dashed when they trounced the Trinidad Red Force by 219 runs but then slumped to defeat at the hands of Scorpions.
Chanderpaul said Jaguars would look to execute their plans and bounce back against Windward Islands Volcanoes in their fifth round encounter in Grenada starting today.
“We have to look at [conditions] and what we are going to do and what our plans are going to be, because we have our team goals in terms of batting fielding and bowling which are also personal goals that we carry,” said the former West Indies captain.
Jaguars have dominated the first class tournament since the inception of the Professional Cricket League but their latest defeat saw them slip to second spot behind new leaders Pride.
However, Chanderpaul said one of the hallmarks of the franchise was their tenacity, and they intended to continue fighting until the end of the season.
“We are a good team and good teams always fight hard. Thinking about international teams like Australia, this is the way they play,” he pointed out.
“Those teams would never give up until you are all out, so you have to fight all the way to the end because those are the signs of a good team.”
