Super50: Jaguars to be tested by ‘swirling’ Hurricanes

Guyana Jaguars got off to a positive start in the CG Insurance Super50 Cup with a win over Barbados Pride, who were also defeated by the Leeward Islands Hurricanes Wednesday evening.

Both sides will now meet today (Friday) and while Jaguars may be favourites on paper, Hurricanes will be buoyed by their recent success.

In a tournament where there are just five preliminary matches against quality opposition, ideally, none of the teams wants to lose more than one game, as to avoid a net run rate tussle for the top four spots.

Hurricanes have already gone down in their first match to Windward Volcanoes.

Jaguars did not have the best batting performance by any stretch and it was tight bowling which stifled Pride in the rain-affected match.

An interesting battle will be how Guyanese left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd performs against his fellow countrymen. The Coolidge Cricket ground has been a batting paradise thus far, so he would have to pull out all stocks.

Though, overall the batting did not perform, it is highly unlikely Jaguars will make any changes to their playing XI.

The last time these two sides met in a Super50 match in February 2018, Christopher Barnwell won the Man-of-the-match award for a match-winning innings of 89, while Hetmyer made an unbeaten 60.

Current Hurricanes skipper Devon Thomas cracked an unbeaten 103 at the Coolidge ground and Romario Shepherd took 3-40.

Match time is 13:30h.

Leeward Islands Hurricanes: Devon Thomas (captain), Montcin Hodge (Vice-captain), Amir Jangoo (wicketkeeper), Ross Powell, Kieran Powell, Keacy Carty, Nitish Kumar, Hayden Walsh Jr, Jeremiah Louis, Sheno Berridge, Quinton Boatswain, Collin Archibald, Nino Henry, Ashmead Nedd and Terance Ward.

Guyana Jaguars: Chandrapaul Hemraj, Kemol Savory, Christopher Barnwell, Leon Johnson (Captain), Shimron Hetmyer (Vice-captain), Assad Fudadin, Keon Joseph, Romario Shepherd, Kevin Sinclair, Ramaal Lewis, Nial Smith, Gudakesh Motie, Anthony Bramble, Akshaya Persaud and Tevin Imlach.