Barbados Royals head coach, Daniel Vettori considers the local group of players as integral to his team’s success in this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Vettori, who is in his first stint as head coach of the Royals side, admitted that he is now becoming familiar with the players but believes his institutional knowledge could make the difference.
“I know from my experience, we need to be aggressive in this format and we need to understand that the conditions will dictate a lot of what we are going to do and, as the tournament goes on the conditions will change and I think that the team that has the ability to adapt to the conditions has the best chance of winning games,” he said.
“Like all tournaments I think it’s the local players that can lead you to the victory, you see that around the world that many of the strong domestic core has made such a big difference,” the former New Zealand skipper declared.
One such player that Vettori posited will be crucial to the team’s success is Johnson Charles at the top of the order. Along with Charles, the 42-year-old head coach contended that Jason Holder will have a big role to play.
“It’s an exciting team on paper…I think two years ago they won the CPL, there is still good feelings from those days. Obviously Jason Holder’s record speaks for itself. I’m excited to work with him and hopefully he is the sort of guy that can actually lead the team with batting, bowling, fielding, and captaincy, I mean that’s a big part of his game and that’s why he has been so successful,” he said.
Vettori confessed that he likes working with spinners, having been a deadly left-arm spinner himself in his playing days and acknowledged that local `leggie’ Hayden Walsh Jr., has been an exciting talent as well as the experienced Ashley Nurse.
“Of course Hayden Walsh Jr., and how well he did in that Australia series and how well he has done for a couple of years and I love watching him bowl,” he said.
Nevertheless, the pacers will still get their chance to shine under Vettori who revealed that word from the camp is that speedster Oshane Thomas is looking “fantastic.”
“The conversations with our assistant coach is Oshane Thomas looks fantastic and he is a big part of our team. We obviously need his bowling and I think once again with these conditions and his pace and height, once the wickets starts to deteriorate he is one of the bowlers who can be more effective,” he noted.
Vettori was also proud of the overseas contingent of the team, pointing out they all have valuable roles to play, particularly Glen Phillips, who has made a name for himself while playing with Jamaica Tallawahs for the last couple of seasons.
“I think there are going to be some players that potentially CPL has seen a lot of in terms of Smit Patel who has come in…Azam Khan who I think is a fantastic player of spin…Jake Lintott coming over, he’s recently been successful in the Hundred competition…so from an overseas perspective, I think we stand in pretty good stead,” he opined.
He also spoke highly of the value Mohammad Amir and Thisara Perera brings to the side coming from extensive outings in the format.
Full squad: Jason Holder (C), Ashley Nurse, Smit Patel, Nyeem Young, Joshua Bishop, Johnson Charles, Hayden Walsh Jr., Raymon Reifer, Justin Greaves, Mohammad Amir, Thisara Perera, Azam Khan, Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Oshane Thomas, Glenn Phillips
