Thomas to lead Leewards into Nagico 50 overs Tournament
Seven other Antiguan national cricketers have been named in a 14-man Leeward Islands cricket team ahead of their opening match in the NAGICO Super50 tournament. Along with wicketkeeper-batsman Thomas are, Orlando Peters, Shane Burton, Rahkeem Cornwall, Anthony Martin, Austin Richards and Gavin Tonge.
Four St Kitts & Nevis national cricketers, Jason Campbell, Shane Jeffers, Jeremiah Louis and Steve Liburd were also included, while Jahmar Hamilton, Lyndell Richardson and Montcin Hodge, all of Anguilla, round off the selections.
Coach Ridley Jacobs said the players should be conditioned ahead of the tough opener as they are coming off the recently held 4-day tournament. “We just finished a tournament a couple of weeks ago and most of these guys have been training, doing personal training, so I think that it’s adequate time to get these guys ready for the tournament so … do the simple basic things and they will get the good results,” he said. “The last time we played the Super50 we did do well, we came last so it’s an opportunity for us to really do better than we did the last time and I think that these players that we have must understand that playing cricket is a hard job but then at the end of the day you want to get good results and it’s time for us to get some good results,” he added.
Leewards will open their campaign against Jamaica on January 16 in a game that could prove to be highly tense following a “missing ball” incident between the teams when they met in the WICB Regional 4-Day tournament in early December.
Jacobs said, however, his team will focus only on winning the match. “Let bygones be bygones; what happened in Jamaica is in the past and it is important that we focus now on what is ahead of us and that’s winning that tournament. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is, we have to go out there and execute properly, play good cricket to get good results and once we do that I am comfortable,” he said.
Asked about the make-up of the squad, the former West Indies wicketkeeper-batsman said pleasing everyone with final selections is never possible. “Give and take, we could have had one or two other players you would have wanted in the line-up but then the final say is with the selectors so I am quite comfortable with what it is and I have to work with what they give me. I travel on Monday so hopefully on Monday we can have a fitness test and then from there on we are going to have some intense training,” Jacobs said.
Leeward Islands depart for Trinidad on January 14 for the start of their day/night contest at the Queen’s Park Oval.
.png)
.png)
.png)
Follow Us On
4 Responses to “Thomas to lead Leewards into Nagico 50 overs Tournament”
Another observation about the team, is that it lacks balance, as it is packed with "so called batsmen", who have been tried before without success. Where are the bowlers? Are we prepared to depend on these make shift bowlers to defend what we expect to be poultry scores from our batters?
Once again, we are seeing a lack of understanding by our selectors of what it takes to select a team that is balance to compete in a tournament of this nature. Once this continues, we will also continue to be the laughing stock of the rest of the Caribbean.
Another concern of mine, is this notion, that in order to be a selector one has to play first class cricket. This in my opinion is an insult to many of us who did not play at the first class level, for whatever reason, but yet have the capacity to do a better job than those who would have played. The evidence suggest that these first class players have not done a good enough job to warrant this requirement to persist. My solution to this fallacy, is to engage persons who are knowledgable, have Leewards and West Indies cricket at heart and most importantly, persons who Re willing to select the best team, irrespective of where they are from.
Finally, I wish to say to the "powers that be", that we need to get serious about Leewards cricket. It cannot be business as usual. Our cricket is in a sad state of disrepair. It is broken and we need to act now to have it fixed, or else it will eventually collapse,even though some will argue that it has already collapsed.
It must be very painful to all the great cricketers we have produced over the years, such as Viv, Andy, Richie, Ambi, the bennies, Jakes and many others, who worked so hard to ensure that our cricket and cricketers could match any in the region and the world stage. Some may disagree with what i am about say, but I will say it: when Leewards cricket is strong, West Indies cricket is also strong. Feel free to disagree, but the evidence is there to show.
I look forward to better and bigger things from our cricketers and administrators in 2015 and beyond. Let me take this opportunity to wish the team the very best in the Nagico 50 overs competition. I say the things I say because I hold Leewards cricket close to my heart and this great game has open many doors for me and others.