BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Former West Indies batsman, Philo Wallace, has blamed a failure in leadership for Barbados Tridents’ wretched campaign in the Caribbean Premier League earlier this month.
Singling out captain Jason Holder, Wallace said the world-rated all-rounder needed to take more responsibility in pressure situations and also needed to be more assertive in his decision making, in order to mold a consistently successful unit.
Tridents entered the tournament as defending champions but won just three of 10 matches to become the first-ever CPL team to miss out on the semi-finals in their title defence. “I know there were limitations in terms of practicing and stuff like that but Jason Holder being the leader, has to know the best combination, bring out the best out of those players – he has not been able to do it,” said Wallace, a former Barbados captain who played 107 first class matches.
“One thing I have to say to him and I’ll say it to his face: why do you bowl your four overs and then go at long off and captain the people’s team? If you’re captain and you have to lead, you lead from the front. “You’ve got to be in the firing line; don’t leave it to the juniors. You put up your hand and say ‘I am going to lead this team home’, and these are things we want to see from Jason Holder.
“This is a serious competition and if we’re going to be challenging and making an input in cricket in the Caribbean from a Barbados point of view, our leader has to [stand up]. “We have to bite the bullet and lead the people cricket properly and that is where we went wrong. We went wrong in our leadership.” Wallace also questioned the appointment of Trevor Penney as head coach, the Englishman succeeding West Indies beach coach Phil Simmons who oversaw the Tridents’ successful 2019 campaign. Tridents announced Penney in the position three days before the start of the tournament with no explanation offered for Simmons’s absence. Wallace, who featured in seven Tests and 33 One-Day Internationals, said Penney’s appointment had underscored the need for strong leadership from Holder. “I think the Barbados Tridents were poor from a managerial point of view and a lack of foresight,” Wallace told the Mason and Guest radio cricket show here.
“You had Trevor Penney who was elevated to our head coach … but I think that captain Jason Holder as a senior member of that squad needs to assert himself.
“Trevor Penney was a fielding coach just last year – I don’t know how much impact or influence he has as a fielding coach to be elevated up to a head coach – and Jason as a leader needs to stand up and say ‘listen this is what I want and this is what I expect of my players’.
“I’m not bashing Jason Holder [but] obviously there are areas in his leadership he needs to improve because as defending champions, we need to defend properly. When we’re defending, we have to defend seriously. We cannot be making sport. We have to get our best combinations.”
Wallace said Tridents’ team selection also left a lot to be desired too, especially with their persistence with failing batsmen.
Windies star Shai Hope was one of the main culprits, averaging 14 from eight innings while New Zealander Corey Anderson managed 53 runs from seven innings and all-rounder Raymon Reifer, 23 runs from nine innings.
“And then we [didn’t] want to drop this body and we were playing a lot of failing batsmen,” Wallace lamented.
Trinbago Knight Riders won their fourth title when they beat first-time finalists St Lucia Zouks in the championship game in Trinidad a week ago.
