Kirk Edwards sure got a lot of things over the weekend.
Regrets just weren’t among them.
Amidst the public scrutiny of yet another humiliating exit from the Caribbean T20, Barbados’ captain is still sticking to his guns, having defended the side’s much-maligned decision to bat first in their last two matches, which ended in defeat.
In a NATIONSPORT exclusive, Edwards said he still doesn’t second-guess the choice at the toss against both Trinidad and Tobago and the Windwards in spite of the results, reasoning it was a plan the management team had discussed at great length.
“It’s always easy when things go badly to focus on what should and shouldn’t have been done,” said a calm Edwards after receiving multiple awards at the annual National Sports Council Awards gala.
“But we had already decided that if we won the toss [against Trinidad] we were going to have a first bat. We did it against Jamaica and we got 150-odd then bowled them out for 89.
“The fact of the matter is we didn’t bat well, so that cost us the last two games and we’re very disappointed, but you have to put these things behind you,” he added.
The decisions have been the talk of the town since Barbados stumbled to crushing five- and seven-wicket losses to Trinidad and the Windwards respectively, having folded meekly for 90 and 101 in front of huge home crowds.
This coming after the ballyhooed Bajans romped to eight-, nine- and ten-wicket victories in three of their four preliminary matches in which they fielded first.
And the decision to bat first for the highly-anticipated semi-final against Trinidad seemed that much more questionable after the injured Carlos Brathwaite was replaced with fast-bowling all-rounder Javon Searles.
Oddly enough, Searles didn’t even contribute with the ball after Barbados’ paltry innings of 90 – a total many pundits blamed on placing two traditionally slow batsmen, Edwards and Kevin Stoute, within the first three of the order.
Veteran cricket commentator Andrew Mason even went as far as to question Edwards’ place in the side on Sunday’s Brass Tacks programme, saying his style isn’t suited for the shortest format of the game.
“I have never second-guessed our batting order either, because as I said, it’s always easy to talk about what should’ve been done after things don’t go well,” said Edwards when asked whether the in-form Shane Dowrich and Alcindo Holder should have been promoted up the order.
“This is something that we discussed over a period of time and what I can say is that I was very proud of the support and the turnout that I saw at Kensington Oval and it’s something I would love to see in the very near future.”
Edwards went on to add that he was currently stepping up his work load ahead of the West Indies home series against Australia after watching India’s disastrous tour down under.
“You definitely must have your mental game up because the Australians are so tough mentally, but I really just plan to stick to the basics.”
