Guyana Harpy Eagles are eager to recapture the West Indies Championship title and their hopes have been boosted with the return of Keemo Paul and Shimron Hetmyer for today’s match against the Windwards Volcanoes.
Harpy Eagles won the tournament on five consecutive occasions under skipper, Leon Johnson, before surrendering the title in the last season back in 2020.
Johnson spoke to the media ahead of today’s encounter where he revealed some of the emotions swirling around the camp.
“I think it is more pumped, guys are eager and ready to go,” he declared.
“I don’t think there is a lot of nervousness there. There is obviously some bit of nervousness there when you go out to play but a lot of guys have experience and know how to get the job done at this level,” he added.
Johnson said the side is a championship one.
“We are an experienced side and we have a lot of guys who would have won the championship on various occasions,” the left-hander declared.
“The mood is very good; the guys are eager to get out on the park. We had a good session yesterday at the Queen’s Park Oval and spirits are high in the camp,” he said.
According to Johnson, the pitch is similar to what they are accustomed to.
“It’s very similar to what we are accustomed to at Queen’s Park Oval, a bit of grass, not too much, a bit of dry areas, normally it would have something there for the bowlers on the first morning and good for batting on day two and three and on the final day the ball will definitely spin.”
The squad features a lot of familiar faces, all of whom have experience at this level including the likes of West Indies Test players, Paul, who is the vice-captain and Hetmyer.
“It’s great to have those guys around, they bring a lot of experience, international experience. They’ve done particularly well when they’ve played for Guyana as well and they’re both leaders in their own right. Keemo is obviously the vice-captain now so a little bit more responsibility on his shoulders.
Paul played just one match in the 2020 season, picking up seven wickets while Hetmyer played two matches, scoring 52 runs in three innings.
The squad benefitted from three practice matches prior to the start of this competition which saw players excelling, particularly left-arm spinner, Anthony Adams and wicketkeeper batsman, Tevin Imlach.
Imlach scored a century in one of the warm up matches but in his lone first-class match of 2020, he made two.
Johnson confirmed that Imlach would be playing “within the top three” while revealing that the experienced wicketkeeper, Anthony Bramble, is likely to remain the chief glovesman.
“He [Imlach] is a top-order batsman by trade since he played youth cricket, so once he is in the side, he is probably batting high up the order within the first three but [an] experienced ‘keeper in Bramble so he would obviously take the gloves so if Imlach plays he’d be batting high up the order,” Johnson said.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Chandrapaul Hemraj are likely to open as is the case for most of the last few seasons but with Johnson, Vishaul Singh, Akshaya Persaud and Hetmyer in the mix, it would be hard pressed for Imlach and Persaud to make the playing XI.
A lot will also rest on Johnson’s shoulders with the bat, having finished as the leading rungetter for his side in the 2020 season especially with the absence of all-rounders, Christopher Barnwell, who finished second only to Johnson in the runs’ column and Raymon Reifer.
Not only is Guyana without the experienced duo, but they are missing key all-rounder, Romario Shepherd, who is on West Indies duties.
Fortunately for Guyana, all-rounder, Clinton Pestano is back in the set-up, having missed the entire 2020 season due to injury. Prior to that he found success as Shepherd’s seam partner who also proved vital with the bat.
Pestano will be joined by fast bowler, Nial Smith who has made waves since bursting onto the scene with 20 wickets in seven matches in his debut season.
In the spin department, Adams is joined by veteran left-arm spinners, Gudakesh Motie and Veerasammy Permaul.
Johnson said it is only fair that the players who performed have a go.
“It is missing that variety,” Johnson admitted and continued, “but over the last couple of years, we’ve done well with our two left-arm spinners, Motie and Permaul. The guys that would have performed in the trials and four-day cricket recently are the left-arm spinners so I think it is only fair that they have a go. I mean we have three right arm fast bowlers as well so we don’t look at these things…having three left-arm spinners if they are the three best spinners available to us well, so be it.”
Permaul has done the bulk of the heavy lifting for Guyana over the years, taking nearly 40% of the wickets for his side last season.
On the other hand, Windwards Volcanoes could have their hands full with a lot of young players coming into the side.
West Indies under-19 players, Teddy Bishop and Ackeem Auguste are included as well as former youth captain, Kimani Melius. Also receiving his maiden call up is leg-spinner, Darel Cyrus.
The side also has the experience of veteran Devon Smith to aid Kavem Hodge in his new role as leader of the side and guide the younger players.
Hodge said that he is happy with the preparations so far but was wary of the extent the pandemic has impacted the sport. The match will be streamed from Cricket West Indies’ Youtube page from 10.00 hours daily.
Guyana Harpy Eagles Probable XI: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Vishaul Singh, Leon Johnson (Capt), Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul (vice-capt), Anthony Bramble (wk), Clinton Pestano, Veerasammy Permaul, Nial Smith, Gudakesh Motie
Windwards Volcanoes squad: Kavem Hodge (capt), Keron Cottoy, Denis Smith, Devon Smith, Kimani Melius, Alick Athanaze, Ryan John, Larry Edward, Kenneth Dember, Shermon Lewis, Preston McSween, Teddy Bishop, Darel Cyrus, Josh Thomas, Ackeem Auguste
