Hemnarine Chattergoon backs Guyana Jaguars to win Super50 title

By Ravendra Madholall

Hemnarine Chattergoon, the former Guyana and West Indies Youth player, has thrown his support behind his fellow countrymen to lift the CG Insurance Super50 Cup. The six-team tournament will be played between February 7-27 in Antigua.

Chattergoon, a stylist right-handed batsman and the elder sibling of ex-West Indies opening batsman Sewnarine Chattergoon, believes once Jaguars can ‘roar’ in every department of their game, they could end the trophy drought.

Guyana last won the last Regional 50-over title in 2005 by defeating Barbados in the KFC Cup final at Bourda. Incidentally, a Sewnarine Chattergoon’s century was the highlight of Guyana’s run-chase.

“I think they can be the victorious team in Antigua and Barbuda, they just have to play positive cricket throughout the tournament,” Hemnarine, who also represented his adopted country Canada at the highest level, mentioned.

On Sunday when the action bowls off, home team Leeward Islands Hurricanes will tackle Windward Islands Volcanoes, while the following day, Jaguars will begin their quest for supremacy, colliding with arch-rivals Barbados Pride.

“Obviously, every team will be taking part to win the competition, but I am confident the Guyanese are strong enough to be the championship side,” the 43-year-old related.

Discarded West Indies batsman Leon Johnson is at the helm of the Jaguars and he will have several seasoned campaigners at his disposal. Exciting West Indies batsman Shimron Hetmyer is the Vice-captain and one of the key batsmen in the line-up.

Meanwhile, Chattergoon also took the opportunity to express his disappointment over the omission of flamboyant batsman, Jonathan Foo.

According to Chattergoon whose two younger brothers Ramnarine and Harrienarine also played for Guyana at the youth level, Foo should have been an automatic choice, especially for this version.

He thinks that his fellow Berbician has the right temperament for the limited-over format and with his experience could have been an asset in Antigua.

Foo was Guyana’s leading runscorer in the last Super50 tournament. The right-hander scored 334 runs from eight games at an average of 55.66 with a highest of 97.