ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC- Head coach of the Windward Islands Volcanoes, Ian Allen, says the franchise is planning to shore up their batting when the 2016-17 Digicel SportsMax Regional four-day tournament starts next weekend.
Volcanoes launch their campaign with an opening match against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force at the Queen’s Park Oval, starting next Friday.
Allen says Volcanoes’ batting is expected to be bolstered by the presence of the team’s two overseas players- Guyana born batting all-rounder Narsingh Deonarine and the young exciting Barbadian all-rounder Kyle Mayers.
“In the all-round department we definitely expect Kyle to fit in that position. He has done well. He has improved from last season that’s why we went back for him and we are looking forward to good things from him not just from the four day but the one day,” said Allen.
“Narsingh obviously is a stalwart at the regional level over the years and with him being in the middle order I think that definitely will be a plus for us because Our middle order has not been doing that well. So we expect these guys to fit in pretty well and bring some performance to the team”.
Volcanoes team also includes fast bowler Delorn Johnson and wicketkeeper batsman Andre Fletcher who are both returning from the West Indies A team tour of Sri Lanka.
“I think it will be a good opportunity to see how Delorn shape up in the team this season because for the past three seasons he has not been in the first team. So it would be a good opportunity for him to bring that experience he got from the A team tour into the set up,” said Allen, a former West Indies Test player, who has been leading the team’s preparation for the new season with a training camp in Dominica.
“We have been looking at the amount of time we spend at the wicket. For a first class team we definitely need to spend more time”.
The Windwards, once considered the Cinderella side of the regional game, have shown far more consistency in recent years, as a number of promising players have established themselves and brought more solidity to the side.
They however, slipped last year, when they finished fifth in the standings and will be hoping that they can turn things around in the new season and challenge strongly for the title.
“We are just hoping that whatever happens the players who we are bringing in just fit into the system that we have setup,” said Allen.
“We realize that we need to play hard cricket .We need to correct the mistakes that we made last year and once we do that it gives us a good opportunity for winning our first title at this format”.
This year, the team will be without longstanding manager Lockhart Sebastien, the former West Indies cricketer who played for the Combined Islands and the Windward Islands in the 1970s and the 1980s.
“I think ‘Sebo’ will be missed a lot for his overall experience in cricket and just being around the setup over the years,” said Allen.
“He has done exceptionally well in that position since we came together. While we are here in Dominica he is coming around to make sure everything is ok.”