Guyana Jaguars Captain Leon Johnson and his Leewards counterpart Devon Thomas are optimistic that their teams can pull out all the stops when the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) Professional Cricket League tournament bowls off today at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
Stabroek Sport caught up with the two captains yesterday, who along with the rest of their teams, were concluding the final phases of practice and training at the Stadium.
Johnson said that the local side were in high spirits as they prepare to tackle the visitors in the four-day tournament. “There’s a good mood in the camp, we have been doing a lot of training recently the guys are fit and ready and it’s also good to have the services of six of our Test players so we plan on putting on a good show against the Leeward Islands,” he said.
Despite losing the last encounter by five wickets in last season’s away match, the former West Indies Under-19 captain said, “The last game I think they (Leewards) played well, we set ourselves up, we put ourselves in a position to win and we didn’t come out on top. Having said that Leewards have not played a game in Guyana for six years so we are looking to take advantage of that… they are also coming with a relatively young team without the likes of Kieran Powell and Tinito Willett who have played a lot of cricket for them.”
The left-hander further acknowledged that the home-field advantage that the Jaguars have will prove to be critical for the first three games played here. “It’s always an advantage to be playing in Guyana, a lot of people don’t come to the stadium so we don’t really get the support of the crowd but conditions here are very tough to play on, so teams coming from Leewards, Windwards and Barbados where there are accustomed to the ball coming on a bit more, it’s a bit tough for them to come and adjust after two days of training,” he said.
Meanwhile, Thomas the former West Indies ODI wicket-keeper/batsman said, “The mood in the camp is okay. The guys are in good form. We are just looking to start off on a good note.” Thomas said too that the players are upbeat following their tournament which they recently completed at home before they came to Guyana. “We had our tournament at home so the guys will just want to go out and have a good game.” The 25-year-old Antiguan pinpointed his bowling department which features the likes of Anthony Martin, Gavin Tonge, Orlando Peters and others, as a key element in his team.
Meanwhile, former West Indies Wicket-keeper/Batsman and Leewards Head Coach Ridley Jacobs, in a brief interview with this newspaper, said he expects his team to give a good account of themselves during the next four days. “I think we gel good as a team [and] that is important, but most definitely gelling and getting the unity together is what we plan on doing because it’s hard to have guys gel together in just a matter of days,” he said.
According to Jacobs, Thomas, who has made 21 appearances for the West Indies in ODIs will be a player to look out for and one that he is certain will give a good showing as the young right-hander still hopes to represent the West Indies once again. The 46-year-old also identified vice-captain Jahmar Hamilton, spinner Martin, Tonge and a few other youngsters as players to look out for and the ones he expects to step up and deliver during the upcoming season, possibly finding favour with the West Indian selectors.
Jacobs, who played 64 Test and 147 ODI’s for the West Indies, further said that they are not in any way deterred by the fact that Guyana will have an obvious home-field advantage for this encounter, saying, “No definitely not, we knew from the onset that we would have been coming to Guyana to play them, we played them in the Leewards the last time and we beat them so we know Guyana will come strong.”
Guyana will be looking to make amends for their loss to the Leewards who defeated them last season after the local team put themselves in the driver seat to victory, only to find themselves short of the finish line. The match is expected to bowl off at 10am.
session yesterday at the stadium
GUYANA JAGUARS: Leon Johnson (captain), Christopher Barnwell, Ronsford Beaton, Devendra Bishoo, Anthony Bramble, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Rajendra Chandrika, Narsingh Deonarine, Assad Fudadin, Trevon Griffith, Veerasammy Permaul, Raymond Reifer, Vishal Singh
LEEWARD ISLANDS: Devon Thomas (captain), Quinton Boatswain, Jahmar Hamilton, Yannick Leonard, Jeremiah Louis, Anthony Martin, Orlando Peters, Austin Richards Jr, Lyndell Richardson, Akeem Saunders, Jacques Taylor, Gavin Tonge, Kelbert Walters
