The Guyana Jaguars have two matches remaining in the 2018-2019 Cricket West Indies Regional 4-Day Tournament. Both matches will be played at the National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Sitting at the top of the points table, the Jaguars have scored 117.2 points from eight matches, winning five and suffering three defeats. In second position are the confident Leeward Islands on 93.4 points, having played one match less than the Jaguars. The Hurricanes have played seven matches this season and have recorded four wins and three losses.
Barbados Pride, Guyana Jaguars’ next opponent, are in third position with 90.6 points culled from seven matches, in which they won four and lost three. Windward Islands are in fourth position with 80 points; Jamaica Scorpions are on 76.4 points, while Trinidad and Tobago Red Force have 67.4 points.
In the batting department thus far this season, Devon Smith leads the batting chart with 667 runs from seven matches, scored at an average of 51.30. Hurricanes star batsman Montcin Hodge is in second position with 593 runs scored at an average of 45.61, while Jonathan Carter is in top form, having scored 532 runs this season thus far. Guyana Jaguars wicket-keeper batsman Anthony Bramble is in fourth position on the overall batting chart, with 475 runs scored at an astonishing average of 52.77. Tagenarine Chanderpaul (464), Chadwick Walton (453) and Kaveem Hodge (443) are among the top batsmen this season.
In the bowling department, giant off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall leads the chart with 41 wickets in six matches, averaging 16.65. Guyana’s left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul is in second position with 34 wickets, followed by third placed Romario Shepherd. This huge Berbician continues to impress this season. He has thus far snared 28 wickets in eight matches at a bowling average of 21.82. Larry Edwards (27), Imran Khan (26), Jomel Warrican (24), Nikita Miller (24) and Jerome Taylor (23) are among the leading wicket-takers.
Guyana Jaguars strike bowler Clinton Pestano is also among the wickets. He has thus far reaped 22 wickets at an average of 24.36. Pestano has a better bowling strike rate than Permaul (51.6) and Shepherd (45.7). He picks up a wicket every 43.1 balls he bowls.
Berbician Anthony Bramble continued to reign supreme with the gloves in hand this season. Thus far, he has 32 dismissals, Barbados Pride’s Tevin Walcott has 24 dismissals, while Dennis Smith has 19 dismissals.
The next round of matches, which will commence from Thursday, February 28, is expected to be competitive, and the latter part of the season has become interesting, with other teams registering victories while Jaguars are suffering defeats. Scorpions will play Hurricanes, Jaguars will play Pride, and Hurricanes and Red Force will clash in the respective matches starting this Thursday. (Brandon Corlette)
