ST JOHN’S – Antigua Hawksbills coach and cricket legend Sir Vivian Richards hopes that those young players who featured for the local franchise in the inaugural Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL)?would have left the tournament having gained valuable experience, equipping them for similar future tournaments.
Sir Viv, who said he is looking forward to being part of the CPL T20 cricket tournament in 2014, added that he could not have desired better from the players where dedication and discipline were concerned.
“It is always something that you would enjoy. The guys around were pretty disciplined in their behaviour, whether it’s on or off the field, and they were just pretty special people to work around. When you look and see the local (players), the contribution they would have made in this competition itself, it’s pretty healthy,” he was quoted in the Antigua Observer as saying.
“In every losing cause, you have to analyze the way in which you think you can improve and I guess this is a phase.
“It’s the very first time that we would have had such in the region and guys getting their minds and bodies mentally equipped to deal with such and I don’t think there was much embarrassment caused here, if we compete hard and compete hard enough but we ended up the wrong side of the stick.
“It’s about moving forward and I hope this is a positive enough lesson for the guys. The next time they get an opportunity like this – what it is like in terms of the approach and all the stuff for you to compete,” the coach added.
Sir Viv, a former West Indies captain, spoke also of the contributions made by a number of senior players like former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, though he was hoping for more.
“Ricky and all the other guys from the overseas professional unit, they were pretty good in the dressing room. They were pretty good with the guys, and in terms of information passing and the stuff they would have been involved with in the past helped in a very big way.
“The only thing is that I guess apart from Ben Rohrer, who would have shown us at some point what he is capable of and he is pretty talented in that degree, you may say that in terms of the numbers that they weren’t quite there in terms of what we expected maybe from our professionals.” (CMC)
