Livy Coppin still doesn’t know what has happened to Barbados’ batting.
The Bajan manager says he can’t quite pinpoint the problem with his batsmen after blaming them for the team’s inability to retain the WICB Regional Under-19 Three-Day Competition in St Kitts.
Coppin was still in shock after the Bajan lads lost their final round encounter to eventual champions Jamaica at Molineaux yesterday.
The defeat left Barbados in a disappointing fifth place on 26.5 points, ahead of only the Leeward Islands (17.6) as Jamaica finished with 47.9 points, followed by Trinidad and Tobago 33.4, Guyana 30.7 and the Windward Islands 27.0.
“I just don’t know, to be quite honest, I’m still trying to find out,” said Coppin, when asked of the reason behind the poor batting performances.
“We were a bit apprehensive, but I can’t explain it past that. All I know is that the batting was really below par.”
It was a miserable effort, to say the least, from Barbados’ bats as the junior side managed just two totals over 200 for the entire five-round tournament with a highest score of 259 for six.
Only one batsman posted a century, and Aaron Jones’ unbeaten 125 came in the team’s first match of the competition when Barbados rolled over Guyana by eight wickets.
Barbados crashed to a humiliating seven-wicket defeat after posting a meagre 131 against frontrunners Jamaica in their second innings.
Carlos Maynard scored 30 and Lee Germon Gaskin managed 20 as the Bajans struggled to cope with Ramaal Lewis (4-40) and Christopher Powell (3-19). This was after Barbados were skittled out for just 99 in their first turn at the crease to surrender an 89-run first innings lead.
“The batting really failed miserably . . . but to be honest, I was a bit concerned about the batting going into this tournament because in the past we would have had batsmen that performed outstandingly just before the tournament, but that didn’t happen this time.
“Before, we had batsmen like [Craig] St Hill and Shai Hope that were going in inform and then went on to be outstanding but the guys this time were really subpar,” he added.
Barbados now turn their attention to the one-day format of the competition which starts tomorrow.
Summarized scores:
At Molineaux: Barbados 99 and 131 (Carlos Maynard 30, Lee Germon Gaskin 20; Ramaal Lewis 4-40, Christopher Powell 3-19).
Jamaica 188 and 43-3 (Nicholas Walters 33 n.o.). Jamaica won by seven wickets.
