challenge to lift the Regional Four-Day cricket title for the first time since 2007.BARBADOS’ head coach, Hendy Springer, says the team’s batsmen are aware they must improve if the team is to make a sustained
Barbados’ batting failed in the season opener at Sabina Park, falling for 157 and 172 to lose to four-time defending champions, Jamaica, by 120 runs.
Barbados have to rebound quickly as they face a powerful Trinidad and Tobago team at Kensington Oval starting today.“I think some of the batsmen are a bit disappointed in themselves for not being able to execute a number of plans that we had formulated (in Jamaica),” Springer admitted on the eve of the match. “But we cannot afford for morale to be down because we still have a long season ahead.
“You can’t take anything away from some of the irresponsible strokes that some of our batsmen would have played. Hopefully, we’ll learn from that.” Springer identified lack of concentration as a key failure.
“Sometimes they suffer from loss of focus, some kind of distraction, whether it be opposition players saying something, or a good delivery, or it may be the distraction of pressure building in a particular situation,” he said.
Jonathan Carter holed out to deep midwicket at a crucial time in the first innings after sharing a restorative partnership while, in the second innings, opener Kraigg Brathwaite was caught at third man and Shane Dowrich lofted to mid-off.
“We still have a lot of cricket to play and we have to prepare ourselves well enough that these distractions remain on the sidelines and we focus on the job we have to do for Barbados’ cricket.”
Springer said that the coaches do work on the mental side of the game.
“We do general reminders, what you have to do in particular situations. When batting, the first reminder is you have to form partnerships, you have to play straight for a period of time and so on. I don’t want to overload them with information, but there’s still a lot needs to be said as far as these reminders go.”
Springer praised his side’s bowlers, although he was critical of the 24 no-balls delivered across two innings in Jamaica.He admitted Trinidad and Tobago presented another difficult challenge, even without pacer Ravi Rampaul (nursing a shoulder injury) and jet-setting all-rounders, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo (away in the BPL).
Springer, a former Barbados off-spinner, was cognizant of the threat posed by crafty finger spinner, Sunil Narine, who took 13 wickets to floor Combined Campuses & Colleges (CCC) two weeks ago at the 3 Ws Oval.
“We get an opportunity to look at him often, slow motion, whatever the case may be,” he said.
“But, the guys still have to go out there in the right frame of mind to counter-act him, whether it be front foot, back foot, whether you are going to go down the pitch and hit down the ground, whether you are going to do a lot of sweeping.
They have to make their own decisions.”
