AS SHIVNARINE Chanderpaul, Leon Johnson and Assad Fudadin prepare to depart for South Africa on West Indies duties, Cricket Guyana Inc. have named their replacement for the Guyana Jaguars matchup against Barbados Pride in the West Indies Cricket Board/Professional Cricket League Regional 4-Day Competition this weekend.
Teenaged openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Shimron Hetmyer will be replacing Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Fudadin, while Georgetown Cricket Club’s Vishaul ‘Cheesy’ Singh, has been chosen to not only replace Johnson, but also take over the reigns of captaincy.
Discarded West Indies middle order batsman Narsingh Deonarine, who have excelled with both bat and ball in the Jaguars’ two opening matches to date, have been given the responsibility of vice captain to Singh.
Deonarine has scored 283 runs in three innings which included back to back centuries and supported it with a five wicket haul against the Windward Islands in their first innings last week Saturday, a game that Guyana Jaguars won by 92 runs to register their second outright win.
The Jaguars have 34 points with their two victories and sit atop of the points table, 14 points ahead of the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, their opponents for the next round, while holding a +22 over the Pride, who will be missing four key players for the upcoming clash.
While many would question Singh’s ability to lead the team, one must remember that two years ago he led the Guyana Cricket Board’s President’s XI to the Carib Beer/Pepsi Big Bash title, followed by Inter-county triumph with Demerara this year.
In addition to the above, he led one of the teams in the two trial matches held before the start of the WICB/PCL tournament and single handedly won the first game with his ton, while they were held to a draw in the second.
The full team reads: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Rajindra Chandrika, Shimron Hetmyer, Vishaul Singh (Captain), Narsingh Deonarine (Vice Captain), Raymond Reifer, Anthony Bramble (wk), Christopher Barnwell, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Ronsford Beaton, Keon Joseph, Trevon Griffith. The Head Coach is Esuan Crandon and the Manager/Assistant Coach is Rayon Griffith.