MOHALI – Century-maker Jonathan Carter says Barbados Tridents will find yesterday’s defeat to Cape Cobras hard to take, after they came within a whisker of winning their first Champions League Twenty20 contest.
The Caribbean side motored to 174 for eight at they were sent in at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, with Carter pummelling a career-best, unbeaten 111 off 68 deliveries.
However, Tridents dropped three catches and misfielded off the last ball of the regular innings, to allow Cobras to tie the game and force a Super Over.
“No one likes to lose. We have been working really hard as a team and we see ourselves as a big family – we win together and we lose together,” Carter told a post-match media conference.
“Everyone will take this defeat hard as we felt we had it there for the taking. But we still have a lot to look forward. We came here as underdogs and we proved we can compete with the bigger teams in the world.”
The defeat was the Tridents’ second following a similar nerve-jangling last-over defeat to Kings XI Punjab last Saturday.
“We could have said we could have done a lot better and win both matches – we know we’re good enough,” he said.
“But we could have done a lot worse. We will look at what we did wrong and how we can improve from here. We know we can win and we will look to win those next two games and take it from there.”
Left-handed Carter came to the crease with the Tridents tottering on seven runs for two wickets in the third over. He unleashed a number of scintillating shots – mostly off the spinners – as he counted 10 fours and five sixes in his knock.
“After being two wickets down for so little runs in the first few overs I decided to come out and try to counteract what was going on and then tried to pace myself in the middle overs. I then decided to pick up the ones and twos and look to accelerate at the end for a big finish,” said the left-hander.
“I want to push on from here. I believe in my ability and I know I am capable of playing in all formats. I am trying to develop my game in every aspect and look to get big scores from any stage in the game. I didn’t get a lot of runs in the CPL (Caribbean Premier League) so I wanted to make amends when I reached India.”
Carter has been knocking on the door of the West Indies senior team for some time and scored a century in India last year when the West Indies A Team toured.
The 26-year-old said he believed the hundred was a turning point in his career and praised head coach Desmond Haynes for his advice prior to the game.
“This is a big achievement for me. I really feel great to come and get a century in this format in this tournament. The downside is that we did not win and I really wanted to take the team across the line. In the Super Over I looked to get 11 off the first three balls and then make it easy for myself but it didn’t quite go my way,” Carter said.
“Mr Haynes has a lot to offer and he really believes in the Tridents. All the guys look up to him and we took his advice about the way we should go about the game and our approach to overall cricket. We went out and did things a lot different to the way we did in the first match.” (CMC)
