PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago coach Gus Logie says his side’s batting will need to improve, if they are to excel in the WICB Professional Cricket League.
He was speaking ahead of tomorrow’s start of the revamped regional first class competition which will see T&T clashing with bitter arch-rivals Barbados at Queen’s Park Oval.
“Our batting has not consistently scored runs – particularly the kind of big individual scores and totals that put you in a position to win four-day matches,” the former T&T and West Indies player said.
“It’s an area that we have tried to work very hard correcting and so we are really looking forward to the players really going out and batting for long periods and accumulating the big scores and totals that would allow our bowlers the opportunity to put pressure on the opposition.”
To address the issue, T&T snapped up successful Guyana and West Indies middle order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan in the draft. A veteran of 87 Tests, Sarwan averages 40 in that arena and 38 in first class cricket.
With this record, Logie said he expected Sarwan to a bring a lot more to the side than just run-scoring.
“We had a number of young and
exciting players, but we needed a player that could bring a lot more stability and experience in the middle order, so that’s why we chose Ramnaresh,” the former West Indies coach explained.
“We are looking forward to him bringing not just runs, but his experience that he will mentor our younger players, so that they can learn from him.”
And T&T will not be short of young players for their campaign. They have opted for the likes of aggressive top order batsman Evin Lewis, Yannick Ottley, Akeal Hosein and Bryan Charles, in a side that reflects a nice blend of emerging and established players.
Logie says he expected much of the young players to come during the season.
“It’s a long season and opportunities will come for many of the players, but we believe Evin Lewis is one of the players that we believe has the potential to go all the way and we would like to see his transformation from the limited-overs version to the longer version,” Logie said.
“Nicholas Pooran is not in the squad for this weekend’s opener, but he will be given an opportunity later on; Yannick Ottley has the ability to establish himself as a decent all-round player; and Akeal Hosein was good last season and we want to see his progress this coming season.”
