Griffith confident Jaguars can roar to three in a row

Nov 09, 2016 Sports

As Regional season bowls off on Friday

By Sean Devers
Manager and Assistant Coach of the Guyana Jaguars, Rayon Griffith is confident

Rajendra Chandrika cuts Keon Joseph into the net at Providence. (Sean Devers photo)

the Jaguars can make it a hat-trick of Regional First-Class titles at the end of this season which starts on Friday when Guyana Jaguars oppose Jamaica Scorpions at Providence.
This year Leon Johnson joined Clive Lloyd, Roger Harper and Carl Hooper as Guyana Captains to win two First-Class titles but is the only one of the three to lift the Trophy twice in consecutive years.
Strangely asked to open the batting for the West Indies after scoring the most runs (803) in the 2016 Regional Tournament batting in the middle order, Johnson leads the side which has won nine titles since sponsored Regional First Class cricket began in 1966.
The Jaguars team include five players with Test experience including Shiv Chanderpaul and the 37-year-old Griffith, who took 56 wickets from 22 First-Class matches between 2000 and 2007, said the players began training for the new season about a month after the end of last season.
Most of the players participated in the GCB three-day Franchise League which provided them with regular match-practice.
“The entire training squad is a happy bunch and is basically the same core group we had

The players warm up with a game of Rugby. (Sean Devers photo)

over the last couple of seasons which are among the critical reasons that we have done so well over the last two years. We enjoy each other’s company and playing cricket,” Coach Griffith pointed out.
While the players began training early the Coaching staff and trainers did not want to overwork them so a balance was maintained and those who participated in the League had less intense workouts.
Griffith said Devendra Bishoo is bowling really well again and his confidence should be high coming off good performances in the UAE where West Indies played Pakistan in a three Test series.
“Shiv (Chanderpaul) has a wealth of experience and the batsmen should learn a lot from his presence in the team. Vishual (Singh) continues to show the type of temperament needed for four-day cricket and was successful in Sri Lanka with the West Indies ‘A’ team. Shemron (Hetymer) also did well in Sri Lanka,” said Griffith, the Assistant Coach in Sri Lanka.
According to Griffith, everyone is fit and available and ready to go and is putting in the hard work so that at the end of the season the team should be able to reap success.

Chairman of Selectors and Jaguars’ Manager Rayon Griffith and Clive Grimmond one of the Academy Coaches at Providence. (Sean Devers Photo)

The selectors had all their options open to them since no Guyanese were picked for the Tri-Nation ODI series involving West Indies, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
Talking about his first experience in Sri Lanka, Griffith said that he learned a lot from being involved in coaching players from different cultures and Islands and was proud that the team did so well.
“The facilities there for cricket are very good but the climatic conditions is exceedingly hot and the spicy food was quite an experience for me. Overall I am happy that the ‘A’ team’s performance put smiles to the faces of West Indians at a time when our senior team is not doing as well as the fans would like,” Griffith concluded.
Rohan Kanhai leading Guyana to its first title in 1973, Clive Lloyd was Captain in 1975 & 1983 when Guyana won the title, Roger Harper was Skipper in 1987 & 1993 when this nation emerged Champions, while Carl Hooper was at the helm of the 1998 & 2002 winning teams.
Johnson is well positioned to become the first Captain to win three Titles in a row for Guyana. Barbadian Clyde Walcott, who worked in the local Sugar Industry at that time, led British Guiana to the 1956, 1961 & 1964 titles.
Jamaica’s Tamar Lambert holds the record for the Captain to win the most successive Regional First-Class Titles, a feat he achieved from 2009-2013.

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