By Clifton Ross

DEFENDING 4-Day champions Guyana Jaguars will be seeking to play some ultra-aggressive cricket, starting from today when Round 7 bowls off at Providence against bottom-of-the-table Leeward Hurricanes.

The champions handed Hurricanes a 10-wicket thrashing a few rounds ago when the two sides met and with the hunt for points now more crucial than ever, Guyana will be seeking to win the remaining rounds in grand fashion.

In-form opener Chandrapaul Hemraj was among the stars in that encounter, hitting 52 while rookie pacer Niall Smith bagged 8 wickets to help the Jags cap off a resounding performance.

Guyana, with a slightly tweaked team will want to replicate their win from a few rounds ago which will earn them extra points. Currently, Jaguars are in  second place with 79 points while table-leaders Barbados Pride have amassed a whopping 108.2 points, following the end of  the sixth round.

The Hurricanes continue to play competitive cricket despite their pole-position. Middle-order batsman Amir Jangoo is fresh off a 90 in the Hurricanes’ last drawn match against his countrymen and powerhouse franchise Trinidad Red Force.

Throw the in-form skipper Jahmar Hamilton, Kaveem Hodge, Kieran Powell and boogeyman Rakeem Cornwall into the mix and Jaguars will need to play as aggressively as they did in the last round when they beat the Jamaica Scorpions by 7 wickets in 3 days.

Cornwall, the West Indies all-rounder and one of Jaguars’ key tormentors in Regional 4-Day cricket over the seasons, was player-of-the-match bagging 10 wickets and clobbering 48 off 44 in the second innings to help set up a draw for his team against Red Force and could be one to watch out for.

On the other hand, Guyana who held their usual preparatory practice session yesterday at the  Providence stadium, seemed full of confidence as their deficit of 30-odd points could easily be wiped off over the next 3 rounds and counting, should they play well or/if the Pride encounters hiccups along the way.

The key to a comprehensive win could be the Jags bowling department, led by the wizard Veerasammy Permaul, coming off a 15-wicket haul and currently sitting on 45 wickets as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker to date.

Smith, who was fresh into his 4-day career when he bagged 8 wickets in the match, has since sharpened his skills and could add further impetus to the stacked unit which features seamers; Raymon Reifer, Chris Barnwell, Keon Joseph, off-break spinner Kevin Sinclair and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie.

Batting-wise, the Jags are without two big players in Hemraj and Shimron Hetmyer who was recalled to the West Indies T20 team for the Sri Lanka series. World-Cup winning Under-19 wicketkeeper/batsman Tevin Imlach could get his first knock of the season while Akshaya Persaud who has played a few 1st class games is also a good option.

Given the form of Leon Johnson, who hit 189 not out a few rounds ago, Barnwell who hit a ton in that same match along with the likes of Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Vishaul Singh, Anthony Bramble and Reifer, all have been in good batting form; Guyana will be looking to pile on the runs or chase a big total over the next few days.

Also, in Round 7 Pride will be seeking to add to their points tally when they battle Red Force at Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago. Windward Volcanoes will be seeking to take advantage of Scorpions who were humbled in the last round, when the two sides collide at the National Cricket Stadium in St George’s, Grenada.

Guyana Jaguar Team Round 7

Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Tevin Imlach, Vishaul Singh, Leon Johnson (capt.), Christopher Barnwell, Raymon Reifer, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Gudakesh Motie, Akshaya Persaud, Veerasammy Permaul, Keon Joseph, Niall Smith

Julian Moore – manager/assistant coach

Esuan Crandon – coach

Neil Barry Jr – physiotherapist