Guyana Jaguars skipper Leon Johnson has cautioned his charges not to be too preoccupied with the idea of winning a sixth straight title in this edition of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Professional Cricket League Regional Four-Day championship.
Instead, he urged the championship bunch to focus on starting the season with intent and to strive to cop some of the individual accolades.
“Yeah, winning a sixth title is obviously there in the mind but not at the forefront as yet… We are just looking to start the tournament well,” Johnson told Stabroek Sport on the heels of his side’s departure yesterday for Antigua to begin their title defence against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes and Barbados Tridents.
“We want to play good cricket throughout. That has been the motto basically for the last five seasons and the results will take care of themselves and we’ve come to learn that over that period,” the skipper added.
Johnson’s plea is spot on since the South Americans will face a stern examination at the top of the season against the Hurricanes who had the wood on them throughout their championship run along with the star-studded Barbados Pride side which is eager for success.
Chartering the direction for the team, Johnson encouraged his charges to pull out all the stops to land among the top performers at the conclusion of the championships.
“After the first practice match, I put out to the guys, with the exception of Anthony Bramble who had been at the top of the charts in terms of wicket-keeping over the last five seasons.
“During the first season, we had Veerasammy Permaul and Devendra Bishoo who were the two top bowlers. The second season you had Vishaul Singh and myself where we were number one and three in terms of runs. So yeah, I challenged the guys to let us to get back to the top. Let’s have the top bowlers and batsmen. So that’s one of the things we’ve set out,” Johnson told Stabroek Sport.
According to the Skipper, the batting bunch, in particular, has been closely knitted during team interactions where they share ideas on how to better their individual craft which places the side in good stead to extend their historic run. The batting is composed with an ideal balance of grit and aggression with the inclusion of Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Chandrapaul Hemraj who are expected to perform the opening duties.
Meanwhile, Johnson, Singh, Chris Barnwell, Bramble and Raymon Reifer have all performed incredibly in the past.
The bowling as pointed out by Johnson, consists of two of the region’s premier spinners in Permaul and Bishoo, the latter returning from injury. The fast bowling stocks include Keon Joseph and newcomer Nial Smith who can be quite slippery.
Barnwell and Reifer are also useful options to operate on the surfaces in Antigua and Barbados where they will play the first two matches.
