BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief selector Roger Harper has expressed disappointment in the performance of players with West Indies experience in the ongoing Regional Four-Day Championship, saying they have not shown their full worth at the crease.
Harper, who was on the Barbados radio show Mason & Guest Tuesday night, said the batsmen were not performing as well as they should.
“Certainly I had hoped and expected greater performance from them. To be playing seven rounds of cricket and not really getting anything is a bit concerning,” the former coach said, although singling out Devon Smith for “showing the way” with just over 560 runs at an average of almost 48. “The other guys are averaging in the 20s.”
The domestic first-class competition moved into the eighth round yesterday, with some of the West Indies squad back in the Caribbean from the just ended Sri Lanka tour joining the teams.
“I am hoping they will inspire the West Indies players – the ones who’ve recently been in the West Indies team and have been playing the Regional Four-Day competition – to perform better, especially the batsmen,” Harper said.
“When you look at the match reports after each round you should be able to identify the players who’ve represented West Indies team at this level because they should stand out, and that definitely has not been the case at all. The batsmen, in particular, have not really put their hands up at all and they need to do that in the last three rounds.”
One of Harper’s other concerns in the six-team tournament was the lack of early pressure being put on batsmen.
The former West Indies spinner, who played both Test and ODI cricket for the regional side, suggested that captains “could look to be more aggressive at times and look to create opportunities to take wickets early.”
He did acknowledge that, overall, there has been “some good cricket” in the tournament, although he was adamant that more consistency is needed from the batsmen.
The competition resumed yesterday with Leeward Islands Hurricanes playing Jamaica Scorpions at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound in Antigua; defending champions Guyana Jaguars going up against leaders Barbados Pride at Guyana National Stadium, Providence; and hosts Trinidad and Tobago Red Force facing Windward Islands Volcanoes at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba.
At the end of the seventh round, Pride had 116 points, followed by Jaguars on 85.8 points. Volcanoes are third in the standings on 73.6 points, with Red Force close behind on 72.2 points, Scorpions in fifth place on 68.6 points, and Hurricanes at the bottom of the table on 48.4 points.
