“I’ve been working really hard on my batting”- Shepherd

By Avenash Ramzan

133, 11, 77*, 11, 58*

Those are the last five scores Romario Shepherd has produced in domestic cricket over the last two months.

The hundred- his maiden one in First-Class cricket- and the 77 came for West Indies A against New Zealand A in December, while the 58*- his first fifty in List A cricket- was a fighting effort for Guyana Jaguars against Barbados Pride in the CG Insurance Super50 Cup on Monday night in Antigua.

The powerfully-built 26-year-old is more known for his fast-bowling exploits, but recently his batting has shown tremendous improvement and maturity, something he attributed to the extra work behind the scenes.

“I’ve been working really hard on my batting,” the Berbician said after his half-century against Pride, coupled with figures of 1-17, earned him the Man-of-the-Match award at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.

“It’s good to know that I’m reaping the rewards and results out here now, so I’m thankful for that. You know I put in a lot of hard work, and a lot of time in my batting and getting the scores I’m thankful.”

In January, Shepherd missed out on the West Indies tour of Bangladesh after returning a positive COVID-19 test, but now he is “fit and strong and ready to go.”

“The ball has been coming out nice over the last couple days of training, so tonight I just continue and bring my training into the game and it worked for me.”

Shepherd’s knock on Monday complemented Shimron Hetmyer’s 80 off 52 and Chandrapaul Hemraj’s 35 off 26 as Jaguars recovered from 88-5 to post 235.

Jason Holder and Ashley Nurse picked up three wickets each for Barbados Pride, who were 91-5 in 29.3 overs when rain intervened and forced an end to the game. Pride needed to be 148-5 at that stage.

Kevin Sinclair picked up two wickets, while there was one each for Shepherd, Nial Smith and Gudakesh Motie.

“It feels great (to win), especially against a big squad like Barbados, getting over the line and I’m thankful for that,” Shepherd said.

The Guyana Jaguars will be in action again on Friday (February 12) when they face Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the six-team round-robin tournament.