Barbados Pride aren’t looking to waste any time today.
The hosts want to get on top of Windward Islands Volcanoes from the opening session because they view this eighth-round Digicel Professional Cricket League Regional Four-Day encounter as a must-win match, considering Guyana Jaguars’ huge lead atop the standings.
Both head coach Emmerson Trotman and captain Shamarh Brooks expressed similar sentiments ahead of today’s start to the pivotal contest.
Barbados Pride trail Guyana by more than 40 points with just three rounds remaining.
“It’s nice to gather momentum from as early as the first session because it is very crucial for us to get maximum points,” said Trotman.
“If you want to dominate then you want to look at winning all the sessions; so it’s important that we look to get on top from the first session. We also have to hope rain washes out some of Guyana’s games and we get maximum points because rain has been kind to them and not kind to us.
“Thankfully, we have a team that can get maximum points as we have back Roston Chase and Kemar Roach. They are very confident guys so they will lift the morale of the players around them. I’m confident we can get full points as this is a good side,” Trotman added.
It’s been a kind of seesaw season for the Pride, who have been up against it from ball one after being forced to settle for draws in rain-affected games against Trinidad and Jamaica.
Issues with the outfield at Kensington Oval then forced the Bajans to hit the road for five straight contests while defending three-time champions Jaguars stormed to the top of the standings.
But Pride did themselves no favours before that, losing to the visiting Leeward Islands Hurricanes inside just two days in a historically dreadful showing.
However, Barbados rebounded well by thumping Red Force by more than 200 runs in Trinidad last month, and now they welcome back Test players Chase and Roach to a victorious side in front their home crowd.
“These guys have done it day in and day out for this country as they play a vital role in our success. I just hope the younger players lean on them for . . . advice because they’re not around as often as we would like,” said Brooks.
“Of course, every game from here on in is a must-win situation for us but we’ve gotten the better of Windwards in St Vincent. Coming back home to Barbados, I don’t see why it should be any different. We just need to apply the basics and give of our best.
“We want to get full batting points because we’ve struggled a bit with that in these last couple games, but we’ve shown improvement as the season went on and now we have Roston to help with our batting,” the skipper added. (JM)
