KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC– Jamaican bowlers have come under fire for that country’s failure to reach the finals of the Caribbean T20 tournament which climaxed in St. Lucia Sunday.
Head coach Junior Bennett and Captain Tamar Lambert say the bowling was the biggest let down in Jamaica’s loss to Guyana in Saturday’s play-off.
Guyana stormed back to stun Jamaica by six wickets by surpassing their challenging target of 183.
“We should have reached the finals, no doubt about it,” Bennett told The Gleaner.
“One hundred and eighty-three runs is a whole lot in T20 cricket, but I think we bowled extremely bad against the Guyanese team, and we paid the price for it”.
The Jamaicans started the campaign as one of the tournament favourites.
However their defeat in the play-off saw a regional T20 title eluding them after four attempts.
“The pitch was holding up a bit, but once you bowl it up, you would restrict them, but I think our fast bowlers were too short and wide,” Bennett said.
“But they have been carrying us all season and it’s the first they gave up some runs, so we have to give and take with them.”
Jamaica, winners of all other major regional cricket titles, no longer has an opportunity to compete for the Caribbean T20 since it is being replaced by the franchise-based Caribbean Premier League next season.
Saturday’s loss underlined Guyana’s never say die attitude in light of Jamaica posting their highest ever Twenty20 total of 183, on the back of an unbeaten 122 by West Indies star Chris Gayle.
“Before we left here we said we wanted to get to the semi-final and take it one step further. We got to the semi-final and posted a good total of 183, but the bowlers didn’t bowl well,” declared captain Lambert who has now led Jamaica to two Twenty20 semi-final appearances.
“We cannot come (down) too hard on them because that’s the first time in the competition that they kind of let us down. But it’s hard for us to bowl like that in a semi-final game.”