– Careers on the line if performances cannot improve

THE Guyana Jaguars have not played to their full potential,at least for the first five games in the current NAGICO Super50 tournament.

Their below-par performances have left them for the second time in three days,in a must-win game today to stay in the hunt for a semifinal spot.
They will match wits and skills with the mighty Barbados Pride at the Three Ws Oval from 09:00hrs.

Leon Johnson’s team is on 13 points, behind Group B leaders, the Pride,who are on 24,and are in danger of being eliminated at the conclusion of the preliminary round.
Guyana are four points ahead of their most threatening rival, Jamaica Scorpions.However,what is interesting is that the Scorpions have played one less game than the Jaguars. Also the Scorpions have a better net run-rate, +0.116 against the Jaguars, -0.263.

The equation now, which looks simple on paper, is that the Jaguars need to win the remaining three games and hope for other results to pan out in their favour.
The Jaguars batting, especially the top order,has collapsed miserably throughout the tournament, and there has been a huge debate, which leaves the top order nearly pre-decided.

The Jaguars have three openers at their disposal:West Indies Test openers, Assad Fudadin and Rajendra Chandrika, along with former West Indies youth captain Shimron Hetmyer, but sadly they all failed to impress, and perhaps lack an insatiable hunger for runs.
Fudadin has 108 runs from five games at an average of 21.60, while Chandrika could only achieve 64 runs from four games at an average of 21.33. Hetmyer has six runs from three matches, at two runs per innings.

Evidently,the batting statistics represents their inconsistency, which is perhaps the most undependable top order Guyana has produced for a long time.
Hetmyer, 20, is still in the learning process, but Fudadin, 31, and Chandrika, 27, both have played at the highest level, and should have produced better performances.
All-rounder Christopher Barnwell and wicket-keeper batsman Anthony Bramble are two other failures, especially Barnwell who has failed to justify his selection.

Both played four of the five games to date, with Barnwell totaling 41 runs from three innings, while Bramble has 37 runs from two innings. Barnwell’s all-round ability has plummeted significantly over the years, and his eleven overs from three games have cost him 54 runs, with only one wicket.
In an invited comment yesterday, an official from the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has stated that careers could be on the line if the performances are not improved as the tournament progresses.

Barring the top order failure, veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been the backbone of the Jaguars’ batting line-up. Always reliable throughout his illustrious career, the 42-year-old has an average of 181 in the tournament to date. He is the only Guyanese to register a hundred.
Apart from Chanderpaul, skipper Leon Johnson is the team’s highest run- score, with 206, and the onus will be the duo if the Jaguars is to progress further, since unfortunately, the rest of their batting lacks perseverance and intent.
The bowling ,both pace and spin,have been fairly effective, despite lacking sting on a few occasions.
But for Jaguars, their focus should be on winning their remaining games ,since they cannot control the results of other games.