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Jaguars quietly confident head of Regional 4-day tourney Face Volcanoes at Daren Sammy Stadium from tomorrow
By Sean Devers
Four times defending Regional Four-Day Champions Guyana Jaguars are on a 10 game unbeaten streak; having not lost a match since the final game of the 2016/17 season when Leewards Hurricanes beat them in St Kitts.
Tomorrow in St Lucia they begin their campaign for their fifth consecutive title and 12thoverall since Rohan Kanhai led them to their first in 1973, when they face-off with Windwards Volcanoes at the Daren Sammy Stadium.
The South American Franchise is without young Caribbean batting sensation Shimron Hetymer, Devendra Bishoo, Kemo Paul, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Raymon Reifer and Sherfane Rutherford.
Captain Leon Johnson, who led Guyana for the first time in 2013 against the Windwards when Skipper Veerasammy Permaul was on West Indies duty, feels the absence of the Windies players will give their replacements a chance to show their worth when asked, how badly would the West Indies players be missed.
Leon Johnson during his 118 at Providence during the practice match.
“I can’t say how badly they would be missed but while we know they are obviously talented and would bring quality to the table, it gives an opportunity to the guys who have been selected, to play well and make it hard for the selectors when senior players become available,” informed Johnson, who has lost just five of the 42 games he has led Guyana in while winning 27 times.
“I am quietly confident going into this season as defending Champions with a team which has dominated Regional four-day for the last four seasons but everybody starts at zero …all the teams are on zero …. all batters and bowlers are on zero.
Come Thursday we can’t take it for granted that we could just turn up and win games. We have to go through a process and we have to be patient as we usually are and play consistent cricket which has been our strength,” said Guyana’s most successful Captain.
Rain and the unavalibity of grounds forced Cricket Guyana Inc. (CGI) to call off the eight-team three-day franchise League which replaced the Inter-County tournament and both of the Jaguars’ practice matches were affected by rain.
“I think the two practice matches went well but I won’t say I was totally satisfied since a couple of the batters selected did not get enough time in the middle because the matches were affected by rain,” lamented Johnson who played the last of his nine Tests just over two years ago.
Johnson, however, made the most of the last practice match at Providence; scoring a brilliant century, form which he hopes to carry into the tournament and reproduce his 2016 performance when he scored two tons in 807 runs.
“It was nice to score a hundred and it’s good for my confidence going into the tournament,” concluded Johnson, who played his 100thFirst-Class match and 80thfor Guyana tomorrow.
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