By Clifton Ross

GUYANESE Leon Johnson is just one title away from being crowned arguably the most successful Regional 4-Day Captain in the country’s history, should he lead his team to yet another tournament win, come Thursday when the 2020 season gets underway.

Already in esteemed company, having won the title for 5 years in a row, dating back to the 2013-14 season, the out-of-favour West Indies Test player has managed to shape a phenomenal First-Class career while putting Guyana on the map as Regional heavyweights in the longest format.

When Cricket West Indies (CWI) redesigned the regional structure to make it more professional as well as financially stable, Guyana under the leadership of Johnson immediately won the first edition.

Since their first win, the newly renamed Jaguars never looked back as they continued to dominate the format every year. In all, Guyana have won 7 domestic first class titles since the tournament’s birth in 1965-66 – then known as the Shell Shield.

With a total of 10 titles in all, Guyana’s tally is third overall on the list of most wins by a nation. They trail second place Jamaica who have 12 and Barbados who lead the way with 20 wins to date. Guyana have followed in the footsteps of Jamaica who are the other country to win the competition for a record five times in a row.

Outside of Guyana and Jamaica, the Bajans were the first to hold the record of five straight 4-Day title wins in a row, when they dominated between 1976 and 1980. Outside of Guyana’s possible record of capturing the title for 6 consecutive years, Johnson now has the chance to displace the likes of; Sir Clive Lloyd, Roger Harper, Rohan Kanhai and Carl Hooper.

Kanhai, one of the legendary Guyanese/Windies batsmen was the first to win the Chip back in 1973, followed by one of the most successful skipper in Sir Lloyd who took Guyana to titles win in 1975 and 1983.

Current West Indies chief selector and former Windies all-rounder Harper won in 1987 and 1993 while Hooper was the last Guyanese to win the title when he captured it in 2002. Johnson, meanwhile, has a great shot of etching his name at the top of the list while securing another championship title for his country.