Guyana Jaguars are leaving today for the Super50 tournament

By Rajiv Bisnauth

WITHOUT a 50-over regional cricket title since 2005, Guyana’s senior team, the Guyana Jaguars, will leave the shores this morning for Antigua. The squad, along with its management team, will leave Eugene F. Correia International Airport at 11:00 hours for Barbados before arriving at their final destination. To achieve another milestone, the senior selection panel announced the squad with no surprises, with left hand Leon Johnson again at the helm. The squad is fully aware of the hard work needed to lift the trophy that has been eluding them for more than a decade. Prior to 2005, Guyana reigned supreme in 1980, 1983, 1985, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2003. However, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament will be played in a biosafety environment. All six teams will be in harsh, biosafety ‘bubbles’ when landing in Antigua. A biosafety or bio-bubble environment is designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus, while at the same time designed to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus from one person to another during an ongoing tournament or series bilateral.

The squad, upon arrival in Antigua, will be tested again, before being placed in a bio-secure bubble. Following a four-day quarantine, players are allowed to train while remaining in their team bubble. With stringent quarantine restrictions currently in place, Cricket West Indies (CWI) was forced to reduce the number of teams for this year’s tournament. The 47th edition of the tournament will return to only the six regional franchises participating, which would mean defending champions of the West Indies New Players, along with Canada, USA and the Combined Campuses and Colleges miss out. This will mean that the six leading franchises – Jamaica Scorpions, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, Guyana Jaguars, Barbados Pride, Leeward Island Hurricanes, and Windward Island Volcanoes – are the only teams competing this year for the Clive Lloyd Trophy.

The six franchises will play 19 robin-style games at Coolidge and Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium, with the top four teams qualifying for the semi-finals. Last year, CWI failed to host the tournament after being forced to abort the last two rounds of the first-class championship, and then scrapping all its international home series scheduled due to COVID-19.
The squad reads: Chandrapaul Hemraj, Kemol Savory, Christopher Barnwell, Leon Johnson (captain), Shimron Hetmyer (Lieutenant), Assad Fudadin, Keon Joseph, Romario Shepherd, Kevin Sinclair, Ramaal Lewis, Nial Smith, Gudakesh Motie , Anthony Bramble, Akshaya Persaud and Tevin Imlach. Esaun Crandon is the head coach, Shivnarine Chanderpaul the Assistant Manager / trainer and Ernesto Campo Gonzalez the physiotherapist.

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