PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago Red Force head coach, Gus Logie, says his side are wary of the threat presented by Under-19 World Cup star, Alzarri Joseph, who will spearhead Leeward Islands Hurricanes attack in their Regional four-day contest at the weekend.
The 19-year-old Joseph is fresh off an outstanding showing at the ICC event in Bangladesh where he bowled with pace and hostility to capture 13 wickets, and help fire Young West Indies to their first-ever Under-19 title.
Logie said his players would be prepared for Joseph but more importantly, would be bringing a lot of confidence to the clash at the National Cricket Centre.
“He starting this season against us and he did reasonably well before the World Cup. We are aware of his increasing prowess at the youth level,” Logie told the NewsDay.
“We trust that our players are aware of it as well, and we’ll just take it one step at a time. He’s a young man, coming off of a successful tour and his confidence will be high. I’ll like to think that our players’ confidence is high as well.”
Joseph was equally outstanding in the first class championship prior to his outing at the Youth World Cup, grabbing 17 wickets including a seven-wicket innings haul against Windward Islands Volcanoes in Dominica.
However, Red Force will be hoping to counter Joseph’s threat with their latest spinning talent, Jon-Russ Jagessar, whose 11-wicket haul in the last round swept them to victory over Jamaica Scorpions in Kingston.
Jagessar was a revelation in the Regional Super50 last month and has already impressed in his only two first class matches since.
“For Jagessar, as a young man in terms of his cricketing pedigree at the national level, it’s phenomenal,” Logie pointed out.
“We hope that he continues to work as hard as he has been working and, as focused as he is, we hope it continues in the remaining games.”
Red Force lie fourth in the standings on 56 points, just four points behind the third placed Scorpions.
Hurricanes are bottom of the pack on 36 points but are unbeaten in their last two outings.
