JONATHAN?CARTER has extra motivation to perform at his peak during the NAGICO Super50 West Indies limited-overs cricket tournament.
The small, dynamic left-handed batsman – who can also bowl right-arm medium-pace and keep wicket – is looking to have a “bumper” tournament and “bump up” his chances of making the West Indies senior team.
Carter was called up to the Windies squad in Grenada a year ago and also had a decent tour of India with the West Indies ‘A’ team in September last year.
He said that the Bajans had put behind them the disappointment of not making the Final Four of last year’s tournament and were ready to challenge for the Clive Lloyd Trophy this year. Since arriving in Trinidad on Wednesday, Barbados trained on Thursday and had a final prep yesterday before meeting Trinidad and Tobago in their opening match tomorrow at the Queen’s Park Oval.
“After India, I came back and played for UWI and went straight into Barbados trials where we went through our paces and got ready for this tournament. I am very eager and looking forward to the start,” he told the SATURDAY SUN SPORT.
“We want to make a fresh start after not doing so well last year. I know what I have to offer. Batting-wise I am feeling pretty confident right now, so you can look forward to big things from me,” Carter said.
“It is always a pleasure to represent Barbados and I just want to go out and do my country proud and showcase my talents.
“I want to put the scores on the board and let the scores speak for themselves . . . after that . . . just let the selectors do their job.”
A crowd of around 5 000 is expected at the Oval tomorrow for what is the tournament’s marquee contest in the preliminary round. The Bajans and the Trinis are traditional arch-rivals and the match has the potential to be a classic.
Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago have met 26 times since their first meeting at Kensington Oval in the regional 50-over competition in 1976.
Barbados have been the victors on 15 occasions with the Calypso boys winning 11.
Barbados have a new captain in all-rounder Kevin Stoute. The batting will rely heavily on Dwayne Smith, who could either bat at the top or in the middle order, and Kirk Edwards, who made his maiden ODI ton for West Indies last month.
The bowling is strong with spinners Sulieman Benn and Ashley Nurse, while Jason Holder, Tino Best, Fidel Edwards and Carlos Brathwaite are the fast-bowling options.
“We have been ‘moving together’ as a team and all the guys have been speaking about playing very good cricket together. I guess we have a point to prove, because we didn’t finish in the top four last year and we missed the semi-finals. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen this year . . . we aim to do better . . . much better,” Carter said.
Twenty-six-year-old Carter has a reasonable List A record with an average of 33.03 in 33 games from 31 innings. He has one century – 133 against India “A” for West Indies “A” in Bangalore last year along with five half-centuries.
With the ball he has captured 15 wickets at an average of 28.06 with an economy rate of 4.47 runs an over, with best figures of 5 for 26 for Barbados against 2013 champions the Windward Islands last year.
TEAM: Kevin Stoute (captain), Sulieman Benn, Tino Best, Rashidi Boucher, Carlos Brathwaite, Kraigg Brathwaite, Jonathan Carter, Shane Dowrich (wicketkeeper), Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Jason Holder, Ashley Nurse, Dwayne Smith, Kenroy Williams
MANAGEMENT: Hartley Reid (manager), Hendy Springer (coach), Jaqui King (physio), Shannon Lashley (trainer), Rodney Ashby (analyst).
