By Romario Samaroo
The Guyana Jaguars will begin their quest to complete the double when the take on Kent in their opening round match of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Super50 competition.
The match will be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua and the Guyana Jaguars team will be quietly confident after winning the Digicel/CWI Regional four-day competition for the fourth consecutive year along with having majority of their players finding form in their lone warm up match at the Providence National Stadium prior to their departure.
Team Captain Leon Johnson will be looking to make a major contribution with the bat and solidify the middle order along with veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul allowing the big hitters to post a big total.
With firepower expected to come from Shimron Hetmyer, who scored a 77-ball century in the warm up match and Chandrapaul Hemraj, Jaguars can expect a fast start with the likes of Anthony Bramble and Keemo Paul to come at the lower end.
In the bowling department, the spin twins of Devendra Bishoo and Veerasammy Permaul should be a handful with along with the pace of Paul, Romario Shepherd and Sherfane Rutherford all in the mix.
Raymon Reifer, who had a decent run in the Regional four-day competition will also be looking to transfer his form with both bat and ball into the shorter format while newcomers, Clinton Pestano, Ramaal Lewis and Ricardo Abrams, will also be eager to make their mark against a top side in Kent. However, the Englishmen will be no pushover.
Under the captaincy of Sam Billings who has played 10 One Day Internationals (ODI) for England including four against the West Indies, they will look to make their mark on the competition.
Billings has one half century against the West Indies while Joe Denly, who has played nine ODIs has two half centuries to his name.
Another player James Tredwell will bring to the table a wealth of experience having played 45 ODIs and will lead Kent in the bowling department. He will be complemented by Adam Riley, a spin bowler who is held in high regard around England.
In the batting department, Daniel Bell-Drummond will be one to keep an eye on having played 41 list A matches and blasting four hundreds and 16 half centuries. With Caribbean roots, Bell-Drummond is regarded as one of the most exciting young batsman on the English circuit.
The match is scheduled for a 14:00h start. Guyana Jaguars squad: Shimron Hetymer, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Shiv Chanderpaul, Leon Johnson (Capt), Ricardo Adams, Sherfane Rutherford, Anthony Bramble, Raymond Reifer, Keemo Paul, Devendra Bishoo, Veerasammy Permaul, Ramaal Lewis, Romario Shepherd and Clinton Pestano
Kent Squad: Sam Billings (Capt.), Daniel Bell-Drummond, Alex Blake, Mitchell Claydon, Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Sean Dickson, Will Gidman, Calum Haggett, Matt Hunn, Imran Qayyum, Alex Riley, Oliver Robinson, Adam Rouse, Grant Stewart, Ivan Thomas and James Tredwell.
