Guyana Harpy Eagles captain, Leon Johnson, believes that planning and executing well will result in his side reprising their West Indies Championship title as they prepare to face title holders, Barbados Pride, in round three today.
The Pride are sitting comfortably at the top of the table with 42 points and trailed by Trinidad and Tobago Red Force (38.6 points), Leeward Islands Hurricanes (24.6 points), Harpy Eagles (21.4 points), Windward Islands Volcanoes (10.8 points), and Jamaica Scorpions (8.8 points).
At the first captains’ conference yesterday, Johnson who lifted the title for five consecutive seasons before having his winning streak broken by Barbados, remarked, “There is still a lot of cricket to be played and the clashes you might say, the top teams all got to play each other so it could still be a fight for the championship. I think we still need to take care of what we could and that is playing good cricket, planning well and executing well, playing session by session and I think once you play good cricket, results take care of themselves.”
One of the key positions will be at the top of the order and while there has been comments to drop Tagenarine Chanderpaul, the left-hander made a solid case for his inclusion by scoring an impressive 139 in the final practice game. In the first two matches of the West Indies Championships, the 25-year-old scored 30, 28, five and four.
When Stabroek Sport asked the skipper for his view on Chanderpaul’s momentum coming in he noted, “It was great signs, he’s had a rough time in the first two games, a lot of calls for him to be excluded but the selection panel showed good faith in ‘Tage’, he has been one of the premier batters in the side but he has been through his struggles and good to see him come out and play positive, he scored 160 in three sessions, which is not normal of him, he was very positive, his shot selections was good and his aggression was good so hopefully he can come in and show the same form and temperament that he did in the game at Providence and it will be good for us and the team.”
Like Chanderpaul, Johnson was also happy with some of the other batsmen getting some scores under their belt, highlighting the performances of Vishaul Singh, Anthony Bramble, and Tevin Imlach.
Johnson opined that with the absence of Shimron Hetmyer, there is an opening for a batsman in the playing XI and would like to see Imlach and/or Akshaya Persaud taking the opportunity to do well.
“Obviously there is an opening for a batter now that ‘Hetty’ is not available, the two guys are relatively inexperienced at this level, Imlach has shown a bit of form in the last game we played, not so much Akshaya but I just want them to go out there, whichever one plays, if both of them plays, to go out there and relax, play each ball on its merit and stuff like that. It wouldn’t be an easy game coming in a game against Barbados, I would just want to see them apply themselves and do the things they always do to score runs,” he stated.
But Johnson himself, has been in a dry patch when it comes to scoring 35, 63, nine, three, 28, 21, two and duck in his last eight First-Class innings.
Nevertheless, he reminded that the hunger is always there but admitted his execution has been a bit off, while emphasising the importance and pride he takes when representing his country.
Meanwhile, from a bowling standpoint, the captain was happy with the return of Ronsford Beaton and the maiden call up of Demetri Cameron.
“I think they bowled pretty well in not only the games we played but the earlier practice matches in December and January, on very docile tracks but they bowled pretty well. It is good to see Beaton, he has had a few issues, he has worked on them and come back stronger so it’s good to have him in the team,” Johnson explained while adding, “Cameron, a young guy, fit guy, he bowled pretty well in those three trial games we had earlier in the year and he continued to do so in the fourth and fifth one that we had so he would have deserved that selection.”
Looking at their next challenge, the 34-year-old noted that the team has been in good physical condition and with the benefit of playing their first two matches in Trinidad and a few practice games, they are primed to perform.
He related, “I think we are in good physical condition… I think it’s about getting our minds right, we have three more games to play here, we know the conditions pretty well, we were fortunate to play the first two rounds here, the conditions are very similar to Guyana so I think we are ready and rearing to go.”
Guyana Harpy Eagles are: Leon Johnson (Captain), Keemo Paul, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Tevin Imlach, Vishaul Singh, Akshaya Persaud, Veerasammy Permaul, Anthony Bramble, Gudakesh Motie, Nial Smith, Demetri Cameron, Antony Adams, Kevin Sinclair, and Ronsford Beaton.