The national senior cricket team resumed training yesterday with the aim of working on their skills and sustaining their fitness ahead of the second half of the WICB Professional Cricket League’s (PCL), Regional four-day tournament.
The second half of the four-day competition will start on February 11, but the Guyana Jaguars will get into action on February 12 against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.
However, despite being in what many would call an unassailable position as it relates to the points standing with five rounds to go – two of which they will contest on familiar territory – Guyana National Stadium, head coach, Esaun Crandon, is warning his charges against complacency.
“We took care of business in the first half, I thought we played some very good cricket there, the guys were very good during that period of competition, but having said that, regrouping for the second stage of the competition is very important for us in terms of how well we start.
“We can’t bank on the past; we have to focus on what we need to do as a team from the first game, the former national player revealed.
An ecstatic Crandon labelled the first half of the tournament as a “total team effort†and lauded his players for their commitment and hard work, adding that they were forced to play “tough and smart†cricket.
“We did well in all departments during the first half. The way we executed our plans was one of the most pleasing aspects for me when I looked at the guys on the field of play,†said Crandon.
Meanwhile, the players will be involved in a four-day warm-up game, starting today at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground (GCC).
The Guyana Jaguars have been a dominant force after the first five rounds of the 2015-16 season.
They have already rushed to the top of the table with 85 points, from five wins in an unbeaten campaign to date.
Barbados Pride lie in second position with 63 points, followed by Jamaica Scorpions (53), Trinidad and Tobago Red Force (37), Windward Islands Volcanoes (29) and Leeward Islands Hurricanes (13).
After the game against the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, the Jaguars will then travel to Barbados to face the Barbados Pride from February 19, then to St Lucia to play the Windward Islands Volcanoes from February 26.
In the final two rounds, the Jaguars will play Leeward Islands Hurricanes from March 11 in Antigua, before returning home to face Jamaica Scorpions from March 18.
After the first half of the tournament, left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie has emerged as the leading wicket-taker, capturing 34 wickets at an average of 11.73 with four five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket maul haul.
In the batting department, the diminutive left-handed middle-order batsman, Vishaul Singh, is the Guyana Jaguars leading run-scorer and the competition’s second highest run-getter behind Roston Chase of Barbados Pride.
Singh has chalked up 421 runs, 15 less than Chase, at an average of 60.14 with two hundreds.
Skipper Leon Johnson is the second highest run-scorer for Guyana Jaguars, with 275 runs at 39.28 with two fifties, while openers Assad Fudadin and Rajendra Chandrika have made a century each this season.
First Published In The Guyana Chronicle.
