PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC- Head coach of Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, Gus Logie, has blasted as “disappointing, frustrating and embarrassing,” the team’s performance against Windward Islands Volcanoes in their final match of the regional four-day tournament.
Red Force suffered a seven wicket defeat to Volcanoes at the National Cricket Centre, in Couva on Monday leaving the host in fourth spot after finishing second to last in the previous tournament.
Chasing a victory target of 166, Windwards, resuming on their overnight score of eight without loss, coasted to 169 for three by mid-afternoon to end a long four-day season on a high.
“I think disappointing is a nice word to use. This is as frustrating as it can get. We’ve tried everything possible to make sure that players are comfortable so they can perform,” said a frustrated Logie.
“We came into this game knowing that a win would have (gotten) us to third spot. It’s frustrating to see the lack of pride, the lack of fight from some of our players, especially the last two games.”
Red Force, who were aiming for a third spot, finished the season in fourth position after accumulating 81 points.
Their inconsistency showed up within the space of a month when they hammered Leeward Islands Hurricanes by nine wickets but followed up with successive seven-wicket losses to the Barbados Pride and Volcanoes respectively.
“Two weeks ago we talked about seeing maturity in some of the players and (now), if you look at the way we got out in the middle, it was just embarrassing,” said Logie.
“Our bowling seemed to lack some bite and, at the end of the day, it was just poor cricket.”
Only four Red Force batsmen tallied over 400 runs.
Kyle Hope from Barbados totaled 553, ex-Guyana and West Indies all-rounder Narsingh Deonarine 494, Evin Lewis, 442 and current captain Yannick Ottley 404.
Lewis and fellow left-handed opener Jeremy Solozano were the only Red Force batsmen to score centuries in the 10 rounds of matches.
In the bowling department, only leg-spinner Imran Khan (43) and off-spinner Jon-Russ Jagessar (22) collected over 20 wickets.
“We’ve seen growth in some individuals but that’s just not enough. When we give (the players) opportunities, they have to grab it,” said Logie, a former West Indies player.
“With all the support that (they) have, there is no excuse for not going out there and performing. There will come a day when they will have to answer, and we will have to find players who will want to play, it’s as simple as that.”
