Pride head coach believes new players deserve inclusion

Barbados Pride head coach Vasbert Drakes believes that now is the time to give some of the younger, promising players an opportunity to play at the regional level.

His call has come following the Pride’s disappointing performance against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the playoff of the West Indies Championship that saw them slump to a 140-run defeat at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on Wednesday.

While Drakes admitted there were some outstanding individual performances such as Kevin Wickham’s 393 runs, which made him the second highest run scorer in the competition and Joshua Bishop, whose 16 wickets were tied for third-most, he said he had taken note of some of the island’s fringe players.

Two Barbadians, Rivaldo Clarke and Amari Goodridge, both scored maiden first-class centuries against the Guyana Harpy Eagles in their warmup match that also concluded on Wednesday.

Speaking to the media at the Grantley Adams International Airport on Thursday following the team’s return, Drakes hinted at possible changes to the team moving forward despite what he described as a commendable showing in the 4-Day tournament.

“Well, I was happy with what was exhibited in the competition, but you have some young guys from Barbados that scored hundreds playing for the High Performance Center and certainly that is something that we have to look at, [along with] having some of our best players being available for the next competition. We definitely have to take into consideration that they have to be part of the team,” Drakes said.

“Having a chat to some of the senior players, they accept the fact that at the end of the day we’ve got to find a way of transitioning going forward, so we’ve got to have some hard discussions in terms of where we’re at with our cricket and and what is best for Barbados’ cricket.”

Speaking specifically on the team’s below par showing against T&T, Drakes said Trinidad’s first innings total played a key role in the outcome of the game.

He admitted that even though the team was well drilled and prepared for the conditions and opposition in Antigua, they failed to execute their plans.

“Obviously we were behind the eight ball and understanding the conditions, but I thought the wicket was pretty flat. They would have scored probably 30 runs too many in the first innings, I believe. 

“When you look at the innings that Joshua Bishop played of 99 not out, maybe having one more batter get that sort of score would have given us the control that we wanted in the game,” Drakes said.

“We left Jamaica scoring a lot of runs. Obviously, Trinidad would have played in those conditions for the whole tournament so they were quite familiar, but for me that was no excuse. I think we were batting well enough to suggest that we should have scored more runs as a collective.”

Responding to queries about the team’s perceived lack of firepower in the bowling department, Drakes said it was an issue that needed to be addressed.

“In hindsight, one of the things that would have frustrated me was  

having someone like Jayden Seales, who is a genuine number 11, and he was able to stand up and bat you know, 15 overs. 

“You would like to think that if you have a fast bowler that can actually put a little bit of fear in his heart it would make a difference, and unfortunately we didn’t have that. It’s an area that we definitely have to spend some time trying to fill,” Drakes contended.

(KH)