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‘This team has shown great character’ says Coach Crandon After beating full strength B’dos for 3rd successive win
By Sean Devers
After beating a full strength Barbados Pride by six wickets at the Kensington Oval on Monday for their third consecutive win on the Road, Guyana Jaguars, without Windies trio Shimron Hetmyer, Davendra Bishoo and Kemo Paul, extended their unbeaten streak to 13 matches.
The four-times defending Champions are the only team to win all of their matches and are on 58.4 points and their closest challenger is Leewards Hurricanes on 43.6 with two wins and loss.
Windwards Volcanoes with two wins and a loss are third with 38.2 points, while Barbados Pride,who have lost two and won one are on 29.2 points.
T&T’s Red Force (10.2) and Jamaica Scorpions (9.8) have lost both of their matches.
After the win, Barbados based Guyanese Dr Pooran Singh hosted the Caribbean’s most dominant team for Dinner at his residence on Monday night.
Jaguars head Coach Esuan Crandon
Dr Singh and his wife have hosted Guyana teams for Dinners for close to two decades and were awarded for his services to cricket over the years by the GCB at its annual Awards Ceremony last month. The trophy was presented to Dr Singh at the Dinner.
Since Barbados beat them in 2014 at Providence, the rampaging Jaguars have only lost twice in Regional First-Class Cricket.
Speaking to Kaieteur Sports after the win, Head Coach Esuan Crandon said his charges were able to play better cricket than Barbados over the four days and won ten out of the twelve sessions played.
“A lot of runs were scored by both teams and that would’ve suggested that it’s a good pitch to bat on. It wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on especially on the third and fourth day. With the new ball it was probably difficult to play because of the inconsistent bounce,” explained the Windies Assistant Coach.
“As the ball gets older it was much easier for the batsmen. It (the pitch) didn’t offer much to the spinners. We were surprised when Barbados won the toss and asked us to bat because from our assessment of the pitch it looked brown and dry so we wanted to bat first put up a descent first innings score and pressure the Bajans,” informed Crandon who turned 37 on December 17.
The Berbician from Rose Hall Town said Chanderpaul Hemraj and Anthony Bramble were brilliant with the bat.
Hemraj, the 53rd Guyanese to play Test cricket, scored 144 and nine in his only match at an average of 76.50, while Wicketkeeper Bramble scored an unbeaten 130 and has 159 runs from three innings with a century and an average of 79. 50.
“We also had half centuries from (Raymon) Reifer and (Sherfane) Rutherford. The bowlers did a fantastic job with the ball and had to work hard for each wicket,” said Crandon.
Dr Pooran Singh and his wife (holding GCB Trophy) with the Jaguars team at his residence on Monday night
Reifer scored 90 runs in his only match including a half-century and had five wickets, while Rutherford scored 54 and took a wicket in his only match.
Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul had four-wicket hauls in both innings and is the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 20 wickets from three matches. Romario Shepherd has 11 and Clinton Pestano 10 wickets from three games.
“Well, the win was crucial for the team going forward. I’m happy with the team’s performances in this game. Everyone played their role and contributed positively,” said Crandon, a former Guyana Fast-bowling all-rounder.
But despite the victory, Crandon, who was first appointed National Coach in 2012, said that the Jaguars needed to sharpen up in some aspects of the game.
“From a batting prospective I would want to encourage the batters to capitalise on good starts and score big hundreds. The bowlers have been doing a wonderful job. But I would want to see much more consistency and patience with the ball.
This team have shown great character. Winning our first three games on the road is a tremendous start for us going back home to conditions that we know and own.”
Jaguars returned home yesterday afternoon and will face the Windwards Volcanoes from Friday in their next match at Providence.
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