BANGALORE – Coach of Barbados Tridents Desmond Haynes is bemoaning his side’s string of narrow defeats in the main round of the Champions League T20 in India.
Tridents narrowly lost three matches including a cliffhanger in the super over against Cape Cobras after scores were tied.
However, the Caribbean champions ended the tournament on a high, defeating Northern Districts by six wickets to register their lone victory on Tuesday.
“If you look at the first two games that we played I believed that we could have won them. We didn’t,” said Haynes, the former West Indies opener.
“This game tonight I believe that it was an icing on the cake really. The guys were committed and really wanted to win. So we are happy having the opportunity to win a game in champions’ league.”
Haynes showered praise on Jonathan Carter who scored his first century in T20 cricket and is the leading scorer before the semi-finals.
Carter also scored a steady 30 to help Tridents chase down victory against Northern Districts at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
“We had one or two little problems in the camp in Barbados and Jonathan came here with determination. He wanted to do well,” said Haynes.
“Realising that this is a very big stage and Jonathan really wanted… you know that hundred that Jonathan made in the second game …I must say is probably one of the best T20 hundreds I have seen and its Jonathan’s first T20 hundred so to make a hundred in 20 overs it’s a great achievement.”
Tridents earned the right to represent the region in the Champions League after beating Guyana Amazon Warriors to win the Caribbean T20 tournament earlier this year.
Although the Tridents failed to advance to the semi-finals of the tournament, the former West Indies opener says players should not be disappointed.
“I feel that nobody in this side should feel in anyway let down because I think that we showed the world that West Indies cricket especially in the 20/20 format is a force to be reckoned with,” he said.
“I would hope that this could move on to the 50 overs competition and also for Tests.” (CMC)
