VASBERT DRAKES has called into question some of the Barbados players' ability to cope with the demands of first-class cricket.

The Barbados coach made the telling observation after his team lost their final round Carib Beer Series match against Trinidad and Tobago by 250 runs.

The top five batsmen in the order perished to catches in the deep and Barbados, set 452 in 80 overs, collapsed after an opening stand of 97 in 15.2 overs to be dismissed for 201.

"If you look at how our top five batsmen got out, it was thoughtless cricket. It has happened consistently, which suggests either you don't have the ability to bat at this level or the thought process is not right," Drakes said.

"It is a serious problem. The players have to take accountability. The coach has to provide information, but the players have to meet you halfway."

The defeat, Barbados' second, left them in third place.

Drakes pointed to the fact that Barbados have found it difficult to consistently score 300 runs in recent years and said there were repeated short-comings in handling spin bowling.

"We have to accept that is the reality and find ways of dealing with it. It starts from club cricket. Those are areas that we've got to be honest with ourselves. We have to [call] on our resources," Drakes said. "We have to look at how we play spin, our attitude
towards spin.

"I cannot blame the bowlers. We bowled consistently well the whole year. [Although] probably in the first innings we didn't bowl as well as we normally bowl.

"We know where the problem lies and we need to spend time working with the individuals, or even if it is a little too late for some of these players, what we need to do is find the players that can produce at this level from a batsman's perspective."