After winning consecutive titles of the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) Professional Cricket League (PCL) Regional four-day tournament, it seems obvious that Guyana Jaguars are a team not dependent on individual milestones of players.
Instead, the players are focused on cooperating well as a team and gelling together. The premier reasons behind their profound success during the 2015/2016 season have been that they have played extremely well as a unit.
The players have complemented each other well, and captain Leon Johnson, in an exclusive interview, has attributed teamwork and consistency for the team’s success.
“I thought we played consistent throughout the season in all departments, and we managed to put scores and we managed to bowled teams out”.
“I think our preparation as well, not just leading up to the tournament, but during the games as well. We always prepared well for each game,” Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Johnson is the only batsman with 800 runs (807) this season. Vice-captain Vishaul Singh was the third highest run-scorer with 712 while Windward Islands Volcanoes Devon Smith (715) and Barbados Pride Roston Chase (710) are the other two batsmen reaching 700 runs.
Regarding his personal achievement, the 28-year-old said he is happy that he has made a huge contribution to the team’s success.
“It’s good to be the leading run-scorer in this year’s tournament, obviously I set out my goals, not necessarily to be the leading run-scorer, but to score over 800 runs. I achieved that goal in lesser innings than I set out myself, so on a personal note it’s been a good season for me, and I am happy I have contributed to the team’s success,” Johnson pointed out.
Guyanese left-arm spinners Veerasammy Permaul and Gudakesh are joint-fourth on the list of wicket-takers with 40 wickets each. Nikita Miller (65), Rakeem Cornwall (48) and Imran Khan (43) are the three leading wicket-takers.They extended their unbeaten streak in PCL cricket to 17 with a record eighth win of the season.
At the start of the final round, the Guyana Jaguars and Barbados Pride were in contention for the title, but after both teams recorded huge victories, the Jaguars were able to clinch the title by virtue of more points.
(Taken from Guyana Chronicle)