WICB’s PCL Four-Day cricket… Jaguars begin title defense on Nov 6 at Providence

The Guyana Jaguars begin the defense of their West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Professional Cricket League (PCL) Four-Day First-Class Franchise tournament against the Windward Volcanoes on November 6 at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.

Like last year, the Jaguars play their first three matches at home before traveling to Trinidad to oppose the Red Force and then to Jamaica to face the home team before the competition break for the Christmas holidays.

The PCL will resume after five rounds on February 12 after the NAGICO Regional Super50 is contested from January 7 to January 17 in two zones (T&T and St. Kitts) simultaneously. The semi-finals and Final will be played in Trinidad, January 21 – 24.

Guyana will play in zone ‘B’ in St. Kitts along with the Windwards, Leewards and Jamaica while defending champs Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, CCC and ICC Americas will do battle in Trinidad in Zone ‘A’.

Guyana has won six Regional First-Class titles but only one (2015) since 1998 when they shared the President’s Cup with the Leeward Islands. In 2002 at Sabina Park in Jamaica Guyana took first innings points in the drawn four-day encounter against Jamaica in the Final of Busta International Challenge before lifting the inaugural PCL which ended in March 2015.

The South American Franchise included Barbadian left-handed all-rounder Raymon Reifer as their lone overseas pick and finished on 148 points with eight wins from 10 games. The Jaguars’ only loss was at Providence when set 68 to win they were dismissed by Barbados for 66, their fourth lowest total since Regional First-Class cricket began in 1865.

Narsingh Deonarine, who began with consecutive centuries in the opening games against the Leeward Hurricanes and the Windward Volcanoes made two tons and a fifty to earn as call up for the South Africa tour. But he will make his debut for T&T Red Force this season.

At 41, Shiv Chanderpaul is available for the upcoming season after scoring 119 in Guyana’s last game against the Windwards when he added 251 with Chris Barnwell, who made 148. Vishaul Singh, who led the Jaguars when Leon Johnson departed for South Africa, was the other Guyanese to score a hundred in first edition of CPL. He made 141 against T&T at the Oval.

Spin twins Veerasammy Permaul (67) and Devendra Bishoo (61) were the only bowlers with over 60 wickets. This season, in addition to Reifer, the Jaguars have contracted Bajan pacer Jevon Searles and the entire squad has been training and practicing every day (except weekends when they are allowed to play club cricket) since August.

According to Head Coach Esuan Crandon, a former Guyana First-Class pacer, the fitness and confidence levels of the players are very high heading into the tournament. The final team will be picked after two four-day practice matches are played next month.

CPL fixtures:
Fri Nov 06 – Mon Nov 09
Guyana Jaguars vs Windward Volcanoes – Guyana National Stadium
Leeward Islands Hurricanes vs T& T Red Force – St Kitts Warner Park
Barbados Pride vs Jamaica Franchise – Barbados Kensington Oval
Fri Nov 13 – Mon Nov 16
Jamaica Franchise vs Windwards Volcanoes – Jamaica Sabina Park
Barbados Pride vs T&T Red Force – Barbados Kensington Oval
Guyana Jaguars vs Leeward Islands Hurricanes – Guyana National Stadium
Fri Nov 20 – Mon Nov 23
Windward Volcanoes vs Leeward Islands Hurricanes – Dominica Windsor Park
Guyana Jaguars vs Barbados Pride – Guyana National Stadium
T&T Red Force vs Jamaica Franchise – Trinidad Queen’s Park Oval
Fri Dec 04 -Mon Dec 07
Windward Volcanoes vs Barbados Pride – Grenada National Stadium
Jamaica Franchise vs Leeward Islands Hurricanes – Jamaica Sabina Park
T&T Red Force vs Guyana – Trinidad Queen’s Park Oval
Fri Dec 11 – Mon Dec 14
Jamaica Franchise vs Guyana Jaguars – Jamaica Sabina Park
Windward Volcanoes vs T&T Red Force – St. Lucia Beausejour Stadium
Barbados Pride vs Leeward Islands Hurricanes – Barbados Kensington Oval
Break for Christmas
Fri Feb 12 – Mon Feb 15
Barbados Pride vs Windwards Volcanoes – Barbados Kensington Oval
Leeward Islands Hurricanes vs Jamaica Franchise – Antigua SVRC
Guyana Jaguars vs T&T Red Force – Guyana National Stadium
Fri Feb 19 – Mon Feb 22
Leeward Islands Hurricanes vs Windward Volcanoes – St Thomas Cancryn
Barbados Pride vs Guyana Jaguars – Barbados Kensington Oval
Jamaica Franchise vs T&T Red Force – Jamaica Sabina Park
Fri Feb 26- Mon Feb 29
Windward Volcanoes vs Guyana Jaguars – St. Lucia Beausejour Stadium
T&T Red Force vs Leeward Islands Hurricanes – Trinidad National Cricket Center
Jamaica Franchise vs Barbados Pride – Jamaica Sabina Park
Fri Mar 11 – Mon Mar 14
Windward Volcanoes vs Jamaica Franchise – St. Vincent Arnos Vale
T&T Red Force vs Barbados Pride – Trinidad National Cricket Center
Leeward Islands Hurricanes vs Guyana – Antigua SVRCG
Fri Mar 18 – Mon Mar 21
T&T Red Force vs Windward Volcanoes – Trinidad National Cricket Center
Guyana Jaguars vs Jamaica Franchise – Guyana National Stadium
Leeward Islands Hurricane vs Barbados Pride in the Leewards.

(Taken from Kaieteur News)

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.