Head Coach of the Guyana Jaguars Franchise, Esaun Crandon, on Tuesday praised his team’s “excellent” execution against the Windward Islands Volcanoes, whom they thrashed by 92 runs to surge to the top of the points table in the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) Professional Cricket.
Playing at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, the Jaguars, led by an eight-wicket haul from left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul on the final day, subjected the Islanders to a second consecutive defeat. By contrast, it was the Jaguars second successive victory- following their innings humiliation of the Leeward Islands- and they have now assumed pole position with 34 points, 14 ahead of their nearest rival, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force.
Reflecting on the win against the Windward Islands Volcanoes, Crandon praised the players for their execution of the game plan.
“Definitely, I think we played excellent cricket over the four days and I think we did well upfront by putting up a good first innings total,” the former Guyana fast bowler reckoned.
Batting first after winning the toss, Guyana Jaguars, on the back of a second consecutive hundred from Narsingh Deonarine (139) and 62 from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, posted 291 after the game started after lunch on the first day owing to early morning showers.
Deonarine, wielding his off-spin, then snared 5-24, as the Windward Islands Volcanoes were dismissed for 184 in their first innings.
Batting a second time, Guyana Jaguars declared at 175-6 with Chanderpaul scoring 44 and Deonarine 34, setting the visitors a target of 283 in just over two sessions.
The Volcanoes failed to erupt, succumbing meekly to the spin of Permaul, who snatched a career-best 8-36 as they folded for 190. Permaul ended with excellent match-figures of 11-76 to carry his tournament tally to 16 from two games.
“Obviously it was a top performance from Permaul and I think he did an excellent job for us. Hopefully, he can continue in the same vein and win more matches for us. [Devendra] Bishoo has been bowling well too so we’re pretty happy with the way things are going,” Crandon said.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Jaguars will be without three key players for this weekend’s third round match against Barbados at the Guyana National Stadium.
The left-handed trio Chanderpaul, Leon Johnson and Assad Fudadin will join the West Indies team heading to South Africa for the upcoming series, and they have been replaced by openers Shimron Hetmyer and Tagenarine Chanderpaul and fast bowler Keon Joseph, according to a usually reliable source.
After two rounds the points standing is: Guyana Jaguars (34), T&T Red Force (20), Jamaica (19), Barbados (12), Leeward Islands (06) and Windward Islands Volcanoes (04).
