Latest update November 29th, 2024 1:00 AM
Colonial Medical Super50 Cup Jaguars face leaders Red Force today in POS Adverse weather forecast for Day/Night encounter
By Sean Devers in Trinidad
With two points separating the top three teams in Zone A, third placed Guyana Jaguars (16 points) play leaders T&T Red Force (20) from 13:30 hrs today at the Queen’s Park Oval in their penultimate round of Colonial Medical Super50 Cup.
Raymon Refier has Jaguars’ only 5-wk haul and will need to pick up the slack in Beaton’s absence.
Chris Barnwell is Jaguars’ leading scorer despite him not getting a century as yet.
Darren Bravo is back in form and the second most runs in the tournament.
West Indies Emerging Players sit on second place with 18 points but they play their last match on Monday against the Red Force
Rain, which fell yesterday afternoon and is forecast for today, adds drama to the three team semi-final race.
When these two teams last met, Red Force, led by a 124-run opening stand between Tion Webster (87) and Jeremey Solozano (39) reached 194-4 in 36 overs to beat the Jaguars by four wickets with Daren Bravo and Jason Mohammed scoring 28 each.
In Jaguars’ 187-9, only Johnathon Foo (36) reached 30 although Chanderpaul Hemraj, Chris Barnwell, Raymon Reifer and Ramaal Lewis were all in the 20s but could not go on as pacer Anderson Phillips captured 4-44.
The Jaguars, who oppose the USA in their final game, hopes of advancing to consecutive semi-finals, rest on a solid batting performance, especially since they are without pacer Ronsford Beaton who is unavailable due to an illegal action.
Johnathon Foo’s come back has been a good one so far.
Anderson Phillip is Red Forces leading wicket-taker.
In the last game against the Windwards Hemraj joined Clayton Lambert with two centuries for Guyana in 50-over format. Ramnaresh Sarwan has the most and all of his three tons were made in 2005 tournament when Guyana last won a title.
Hemraj’s even hundred and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (64) added 171 for the first wicket to set a new Guyana record for any wicket.
Barnwell, Guyana’s leading run-scorer with 291 runs with two fifties from six matches, and Reifer who made 52, added 76 runs for the fourth wicket in the same game as Jaguars posted 296-9, the highest total in the Trinidad zone.
Jamaica (twice) and Barbados have posted 300 plus totals in the St Kitts zone but they were made at the small Warner Park ground.
Apart from Barnwell, who has batted brilliantly but needs now to get a maiden three-figure score, Foo, who has also had a good tournament with the bat with 196 runs.
These two batsmen are the only two in the Jaguars team with a strike rate of 100.
Hemraj (185 runs) is the only other batsman in the team with 150, while Chanderpaul, Skipper Leon Johnson, and Reifer are the others with 100 runs and will be keen to step up today against the strong Red Force.
Without Beaton, the Jaguars will depend on Reifer’s left-arm pace and thinker with bringing back the fast but inexperienced 23-year-old Nial Smith, or using Barnwell or 21-year-old All-rounder Renaldo Ali Mohammed, who has not yet played senior cricket for Guyana, as medium pace options.
Veerasammy Permaul, with 11 wickets, is Guyana’s leading wicket-taker as he continues his excellent work at the Regional level.
Permaul will spearhead the spin attack with includes Lewis, Gudakesh Motie and the rapidly improving Hemraj.
Reifer is the only Jaguars bowler with a five-wicket haul and his 139 runs with a fifty and a 45 makes him one of the leading all-rounders in this tournament.
The Red Force has batted well this season and Bravo, Solozano and Mohammed have scored centuries.
Bravo is second in the overall runs tally and his 349 with a century and three fifties, is just 10 less that Kieran Powell 359 runs in
Zone A.
Bravo’s return to form has been the most pleasing aspect of this tournament for West Indian fans and he could be a destructive force for the Red Force today.
Webster and Khesan Ottley are the others with 100 runs and will be depended on for the home team.
Phillips is the leading bowler for Red Force with 12 wickets, while Ottley has 10 and along with Imran Khan, Odean Smith, Jon-Russ Jaggesar and Mohammed they have a quality attack.
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