‘Jaguars dominated every session in Antigua’ says Griffith

Dec 17, 2018 Sports

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After Jaguars beat Hurricanes by 9 wickets

By Sean Devers
Assistant Coach and Manager of Guyana Jaguars Rayon Griffith said the Jaguars dominated every session of their second round Regional First-Class match against Leeward Hurricanes which they won by nine wickets at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua yesterday with over two sessions remaining.
“We played some good cricket and dominated the game. We won every session and every day of this match,” said 39-year-old Griffith, the Assistant Coach of Windies ‘A’ team.
Yesterday, Leewards overnight 130-7, reached 138-9 innings closed after Guyanese Rajendra Chandrika could not bat due to broken finger.
Alzarri Joseph ended unbeaten on 23 after Gudakesh Motie removed Jerimiah Louis (17) and Seno Berridge for a duck in quick succession to finish with 3-11. Veerasammy Permaul had 5-57 on the third day.
Set 32 to win, Jaguars reached 32-1 after Tagenarine Chanderpaul (1) fell to Berridge.
Trevon Griffith (13) and Skipper Leon Johnson, who hit three boundaries in his 15, were at the crease when the Jaguars roared to a second consecutive win after beating Volcanoes in St Lucia.
Scores: Hurricanes 182 & 138, Jaguars 289 & 32-1.
Griffith, a former Guyana fast bowler with 54 wickets from 22 First-Class matches in his playing days which lasted from 1990 to 2007, was pleased with the bowling of his pair of Albion spinners Permaul and Motie.
Permaul took 5-57, his 26th Five-wicket haul at this level to go into the Christmas break with 12 wickets, second only to Volcanoes’ Shane Shillingford’s 14 from two rounds. Motie supported his fellow Berbician with 3-11.
“Permaul showed lots of improvement from the previous game in term of using different angles in his bowling, making him more successful, especially bowling out of Guyana. Motie also bowled well,” said Griffith who was also the assistant Coach of the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL T20 tournament.
“The fast bowlers bowled much better than they did in the first round in St Lucia and hit the right areas more. So there was overall improvement and the bowling unit stood up well during this game,” informed Griffith.
But Griffith, also the Chairman of Selectors, was not as impressed by the batsman as he was with the bowlers although they stretched their unbeaten streak to 12 games with their emphatic win yesterday against a team which was the last team to beat the Jaguars in final game of the 2017 season.

Vishaul Singh top-scored with 90, while Johnson and Pestano got fifties after Chanderpaul made 84 in St Lucia but Guyana batsmen have not converted to a three-figure score as yet.
Griffith said there were moments in the batting department that the team did not manage well especially when they lost six quick wickets in the first innings.
Griffith said he would like to see a bit more improvement mentally being more aware and batting more intelligently.
“I thought if we had managed the batting better we could have made 400 plus. We just have to be a bit smarter in our approach and build on good starts. If we can do that we will make 400 in almost every innings, especially in the first innings. Our batting unit is very strong from top to bottom,” disclosed Griffith.
“Most of the players have the ability to bat. Pestano showed that when he batted as night watchman in St Lucia and got a fifty and again here when as night watchman he batted for almost an hour which was vital for us not letting the opposition in,” Griffith added.
Griffith said those are the things the selectors were looking for; fight and guts, showing heart and be smart.
“Being smart makes the cricket easy and give you edge of staying ahead of the opposition most of the times,” stated Griffith.
Guyana next game is against Barbados Pride in Barbados from January 4-7 and while the players will be allowed to enjoy the Christmas festivities it will be work and enjoyment.
“Well it’s Christmas so when that is finished we are back on track. We defiantly will throughout the holidays. We will let the guys enjoy the season but we don’t want them to lose their focus and we don’t want slip-ups so it will be a mixture of work and enjoyment for the season,” Griffith concluded.
Scores: LEEWARD ISLANDS HURRICANES 182 (Devon Thomas 58, Montcin Hodge 50, Keacy Carty 28; Romario Shepherd 4-36, Gudakesh Motie 3-23) and 138 (Rahkeem Cornwall 27, Keacy Carty 23, Alzarri Joseph 23; Veerasammy Permaul 5-49, Gudakesh Motie 3-11).
GUYANA JAGUARS 289 (Vishaul Singh 90, Chris Barnwell 46, Tagenarine Chanderpaul 29, Anthony Bramble 25, Clinton Pestano 25; Rahkeem Cornwall 4-48) and 32 for one.

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