WITH the Guyana Jaguars having already won the Headley/Weekes trophy, symbol of West Indies first-class supremacy, for a fourth straight time, focus will now shift naturally to individual performances of the players, when the final round starts today.
The Jaguars host bottom-place Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, in a clash where the title-holders are strongly favoured to win.
Despite the points-difference between the two teams, a ding-dong battle is expected over the next four days.
The Jaguars are unbeaten this season, winning six games of their nine games so far, and fittingly, they will hope hometown advantage pays dividends. They are sitting pretty on 145.2 points.
“We are playing at home, we are already the champions, and so there is a little bit of pressure, but we just need to put that behind us and play a good game of cricket,” assistant coach/manager Rayon Griffith said during an exclusive interview yesterday.
Griffith, a former national fast bowler added, “The key for us will be to remain disciplined. We need to stick to our plans, build pressure around them and we will definitely come out victorious.
On the other hand, the Red Force captain Denesh Ramdin is wary of the Jaguars’ threat. Ramdin, the former West Indies captain believes that while it will definitely be an uphill task for his side over the next four days, he anticipates a good game of cricket.
“They (Guyana) have played some good cricket over the years and with their experience they went out again this year and won the title. It’s difficult to catch them, obviously they have already gone with the title but we can take some pride by coming out and playing well over the next four days,” Ramdin pointed out during an interview on Tuesday.
“It will be tough to beat them because throughout the season we have been playing some poor cricket but after the last game we had a good talk with the guys, so hopefully we can make a change-around of the Super50 tournament because a little momentum will be good for us”.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars have made two changes to their squad from the previous game against Barbados Pride. Recent West Indies recruit, opening batsman Shimron Hetmyer and left-arm spinner Anthony Adams replace Shivnarine Chanderpaul and fast bowler Romario Shepherd.
According to Griffith, the former West Indies captain has opted out of the squad in order to allow a younger player an opportunity to further enhance his first-class career while Shepherd has picked up a slight hamstring injury.
Play starts at 09:30hrs, and admission to the venue is free.
