NAIN, Jamaica – CMC – Jamaica will look to begin their defence of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional first-class championship with another dominant performance over weakened old rivals Guyana in the opening round, starting today at the Alpart Sports Complex. The Jamaicans have lost only once to the Guyanese in the last decade, with the Guyanese escaping with a 51-run victory at Chedwin Park five years ago.
But the Guyanese have been soundly beaten ever since, with margins of victory being seven wickets, eight wickets, 139 runs, and last year’s innings-and-27-run triumph in four of the last five matches between the two sides.
Speaking ahead of the match, leading Jamaica fast bowler Jerome Taylor indicated the defending champions were eyeing their fourth straight title, and a victory over Guyana would be a great way to start.
“(Creating history) should be the aim of every individual in the team because once you have people thinking outside of that, then more than likely, we’re going to fall short, so playing as a unit, going out on the field to represent Jamaica should be the aim of the team,” he said.
“We’re going for four straight, and we’re going to empty the tank on the cricket field, even if we lose a game, we should come off the field knowing it was beyond us because we gave it our all.”
Taylor was looking forward to see what Sheldon Cotterell, Simon Jackson, and Chadwick Walton, all newcomers to the national side, had to offer.
“They must have some quality to be selected for the 13-member team. There’s no doubt about their ability, but what will be of note is the gut that they have as young cricketers coming up.
How well they handle pressure, and how much they are determined to prove to the country and the selectors that their selection was not a one-off event. They have to be consistent to show selectors that they are ready whenever a team is to be selected,” said Taylor.
The match will also mark the return to the first-class competition of Marlon Samuels, following his suspension from the game for inappropriate links with an Indian bookmaker.
Though Samuels has played in both the regional one-day and the Caribbean Twenty20 Championships, he will be looking to make a big impact in this form of the game to try to force his way back into the West Indies team.
The Guyanese, sixth-placed finishers last year, are fully aware of the challenge they face playing against the Jamaicans on home soil without several key players either through West Indies duty, or injury, or non-selection.
But manager Carl Moore said his inexperienced side could match the home team.
“In this young bunch, they have all had some prior experience at this level, so it will be very exciting to see what they could do to step-up to fill the gap left by those people not here. Over recent years, we have not been doing well at all, and this year we’re coming without some of our major players,” said Moore.
The Guyanese are without batting stars Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, as well as seasoned batsmen Narsingh Deonarine through injury, and Travis Dowlin, who was overlooked for selection.
The Alpart pitch is no different from most around the region, and typically is hard and true making batting an easy task.
In other first-round matches, Leeward Islands will oppose England Lions at Warner Park in St Kitts, reigning CT20 champions Trinidad and Tobago will battle Barbados at Guaracara Park in Trinidad and Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) clash with Windward Islands at Cave Hill, Barbados.
Squads:
JAMAICA (from): Tamar Lambert (captain), David Bernard Jr, Bevon Brown, Odean Brown, Sheldon Cotterell, Wavell Hinds, Danza Hyatt, Simon Jackson, Brendan Nash, Andrew Richardson, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton
GUYANA (from): Assad Fudadin (captain), Shemroy Barrington, Devendra Bishoo, Ronsford Beaton, Brendon Bess, Rajendra Chandrika, Derwin Christian, Esuan Crandon, Royston Crandon, Steven Jacobs, Leon Johnson, Veerasammy Permaul, Vishaul Singh

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO (from): Denesh Ramdin (captain), Atiba Alert, Rayad Emrit, Shannon Gabriel, Sherwin Ganga, Justin Guillen, Amit Jaggernauth, Aneil Kanhai, Imran Khan, Dave Mohammed, Jason Mohammed, Runako Morton, Lendl Simmons

BARBADOS (from): Ryan Hinds (captain), Tino Best, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks, Roston Chase, Pedro Collins, Shane Dowrich, Kirk Edwards, Jason Haynes, Jason Holder, Kyle Hope, Dale Richards, Kevin Stoute

LEEWARD ISLANDS (from): Steve Liburd (captain), Justin Athanaze, Lionel Baker, Omari Banks, Shane Burton, Montcin Hodge, Anthony Martin, Kieran Powell, Jacques Taylor, Devon Thomas, Gavin Tonge, Kelbert Walters, Tonito Willett

ENGLAND LIONS (from): James Hildreth (captain), Jimmy Adams, Jonathan Bairstow, Ravi Bopara, Danny Briggs, Nathan Buck, Maurice Chambers, Jade Dernbach, Andrew Gale, James Harris, Craig Kieswetter, Adam Lyth, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes, James Taylor

COMBINED CAMPUSES & COLLEGES (from): Omar Phillips (captain), Ryan Austin, Nkrumah Bonner, Carlos Brathwaite, Kyle Corbin, Romel Currency, Kavesh Kantasingh, Kevin McClean, Gilford Moore, Kjorn Ottley, Shervon Penco, Floyd Reifer, Raymon Reifer

WINDWARD ISLANDS (from): Liam Sebastien (captain), Johnson Charles, Keron Cottoy, Andre Fletcher, Donwell Hector, Lindon James, Delorn Johnson, Keddy Lesporis, Mervyn Matthew, Gary Mathurin, Kenroy Peters, Nelon Pascal, Tyrone Theophille