English County Kent Spitfires to make debut
By Sean Devers
The National cricket selectors yesterday released a 14-man Guyana Jaguars squad for the 2017 WICB
Jonathan Foo
Regional Super50 tournament, which runs from Tuesday, January 24 to Saturday, February 18 in Barbados and Antigua.
Leon Johnson leads a team which has no major surprises as 26-year-old Jonathon Foo, who played three Regional 50-over games for Guyana in 2011, returns to WICB Regional Cricket after enjoying success with the bat in both the eight-team GCB 50-over and three-day Franchise League in Guyana.
There is some confusion over the selection of Montserrat-born Guyana and West Indies ‘A’ pacer Ronsford Beaton as Chief Operations Officer (COO) of the Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB), Vernon Springer, told Antigua’s Daily Observer that Beaton was one of the ‘overseas’ players expected to join the Leewards franchise ahead of a preparatory camp at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground starting tomorrow.
“We have 20 guys who will be here over the next couple of days or over the next two weeks and we are going to have some trial games. We promised you we are going to have the best franchise and whatever it takes, we are going to make sure it works,” he said.
“The other big name for you is Ronsford Beaton — the Guyanese fast bowler — who is also going to be part of our 20-man squad, and from last year we would have had Daron Cruickshank who is also coming back into the One Day squad,” he added.
The Jaguars, who departs for Barbados on January 21, plays in Zone B along with last year’s runners-up Barbados Pride, Jamaica Scorpions, Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners and the ICC Americas.
The renovated Coolidge Cricket Ground (formerly the Stanford ground) will stage all the day/night matches in Antigua in Group A, in addition to the semi-finals and the Grand Final on Saturday, February 18.
ESPN will televise matches in this year’s tournament and the Coolidge Cricket Ground will be the prime ground from the Antigua zone.
The CCG will be one of five match venues used during the three-week event which also features matches with the others being the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua, along with Kensington Oval, Windward Cricket Club and the 3Ws Oval in Barbados.
The West Indies Under-19s, Spitfires, Marooners and ICC Americas are all specially invited teams which will join the six WICB Professional Cricket League franchises for the tournament.
The West Indies Under-19s, the 2016 International Cricket Council Under-19 World Cup champions, are using the tournament as part of their preparations for the next ICC Under-19 World Cup to be played in January, 2018 in New Zealand.
Ronsford Beaton
The Jaguars squad: Leon Johnson (Captain), Veerasammy Permaul (Vice-Captain), Anthony Bramble, Shimron Hetmyer, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Christopher Barnwell, Raymon Reifer, Rajendra Chandrika, Steven Jacobs, Assad Fudadin, Devendra Bishoo, Ronsford Beaton, Paul Wintz, Jonathan Foo, Esuan Crandon (Head-coach), Rayon Griffith (Assistant- Coach), Ernesto Gonzalez (Physiotherapist).
Zone ‘A’ comprises Leeward Islands Hurricanes, defending champions Trinidad & Tobago Red Force, Windward Islands Volcanoes, West Indies Under-19s and English County side, Kent Spitfires.
MATCH SCHEDULE
Tuesday, January 24
Scorpions vs Marooners – 3Ws Oval, Barbados
Pride vs Jaguars – Kensington Oval, Barbados
Wednesday, January 25
Volcanoes vs West Indies Under-19s – Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua (9 am)
Hurricanes vs Spitfire – Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua (1:30 pm)
Thursday, January 26
Marooners vs ICC Americas – Windward, Barbados
Jaguars vs Scorpions – Kensington Oval
Friday, January 27
Hurricanes vs West Indies Under-19s – SVRCG
Red Force vs Volcanoes – CCG
Saturday, January 28
Pride vs ICC Americas – 3Ws Oval
Marooners vs Jaguars – Kensington Oval
Sunday, January 29
Red Force vs Spitfire – SVRCG
Hurricanes vs Volcanoes – CCG
Monday, January 30
Jaguars vs ICC Americas – Windward
Pride vs Scorpions – Kensington Oval
Tuesday, January 31
Red Force vs West Indies Under-19 – SVRCG
Volcanoes vs Spitfire – CCG
Wednesday, February 1
ICC Americas vs Scorpions – 3Ws Oval
Pride vs Marooners – Kensington Oval
Thursday, February 2
West Indies Under-19s vs Spitfire – SVRCG
Hurricanes vs Red Force – CCG
Friday, February 3
Pride vs ICC Americas – Windward
Marooners vs Jaguars – Kensington Oval
Saturday, February 4
Volcanoes vs West Indies Under-19s – SVRCG
Hurricanes vs Spitfire – CCG
Sunday, February 5
Pride vs Jaguars – 3Ws Oval
Marooners vs Scorpions – Kensington Oval
Monday, February 6
Hurricanes vs West Indies Under-19s – SVRCG
Red Force vs Volcanoes – CCG
Tuesday, February 7
Marooners vs ICC Americas – Windward
Jaguars vs Scorpions – Kensington Oval
Wednesday, February 8
Red Force vs Spitfire – SVRCG
Hurricane vs Volcanoes – CCG
Thursday, February 9
Jaguars vs ICC Americas – 3Ws Oval
Pride vs Scorpions – Kensington Oval
Friday, February 10
Red Force vs West Indies Under-19s – SVRCG
Volcanoes vs Spitfire – CCG
Saturday, February 11
Scorpions vs ICC Americas – Windward
Pride vs Marooners – Kensington Oval
Sunday, February 12
Spitfire vs West Indies Under-19s – SVRCG
Hurricanes vs Red Force – CCG
FINAL FOUR
Semi-finals
Wednesday, February 15
Zone A winners vs Zone B runners-up – CCG
Thursday, February 16
Zone B winners vs Zone A runners-up – CCG
GRAND FINAL
Saturday, February 18
Semi-final 1 winners vs Semi-final 2 winners – CCG