T&T Red Force coach Mervyn Dillon is happy with the fine start his players have made to their challenge for honours in the 2019 Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup, after their second win on the trot against the Guyana Jaguars at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, on Saturday night.
They opened their campaign with an easy eight-wicket win over the Windward Islands Volcanoes on Thursday last and then ran away six-wicket victors over the Guyana Jaguars on Saturday night at the Queen’s Park Oval, thanks to a blistering 87 from opener Tion Webster.
The team will take a break today as they are on a bye before meeting the West Indies Emerging Players, who beat the United States by six wickets at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on Saturday, at the Oval in round three play on Wednesday.
Speaking to Guardian Media after Saturday’s victory, however, Dillon said he was still looking for more improvement.
“Always good to start with positive results and we have gotten that so far. Our players have been listening and it is always good as a coach when your players listen to you.”
In the first game, Darren Bravo (115) and Jeremy Solozano (102) both scored unbeaten centuries and this was very pleasing to the coach.
“It was really good to see the players sit down and bat like that. They were very good in terms of their application and this is a great sign. We have talked a lot about the rotation of the strike in the middle of the innings and we are seeing that happen. The running has been great and this is very promising.”
But Dillon was a bit concerned with the other batsmen in the line up not getting a chance to have a hit in the middle.
“Some other batters need some middle time because of the rain affecting some of our warm-up games but we are addressing that by trying to keep them fresh,” he said.
“On the bowling side, we didn’t start off all that well in the opening game but the guys have been on the improve. We just need to buckle down and continue being positive.
“We have a lot of work to do if we are to compete against the better teams. I will keep pushing and asking more from the players as we move forward in this tournament. However, at this point I must report that I am very happy with the performance of the guys.”
On Saturday night, Webster smoked 87 off 60 balls with three sixes and 11 fours to lead the rout as the Red Force made light work of Guyana’s score of 187-9. He and the inform Jeremy Solozano, who scored 102 not out in the opener against the Windwards, featured in an opening stand of 124 in 18 overs. Solozano scored 39 off 55 balls with four fours and when he departed, it was up to Webster to continue the onslaught.
Just as he seemed set for a century, however, Webster gave his wicket away, playing a sweep shot straight into the hands of the deep mid-wicket fielder. Kyle Hope soon followed him into the pavilion but the experienced Darren Bravo, who followed his unbeaten century in the first game with 26 not out, ensured there were no more hiccups.
Earlier, with the weather around T&T Red Force won the toss and decided to field first.
Guyana were under earlier pressure with the loss of Tagnarine Chanderpaul (7) just before the rain interrupted the Guyana innings and the aggressive Chandrapaul Hemraj (21) went soon after the restart.
The T&T slow bowlers were the ones to put the brake in the early piece and with quick runs needed to post a significant score thereafter, pacer Anderson Phillip ripped the visitors apart to finish with four wickets for 44 runs.
Most of the Guyana players got starts but could not continue and this led to an overall sloppy display and a score that was woefully short. Jonathan Foo, dusted out and brought back into the fold, got 36 with two sixes and two fours. He and Ramaal Lewis, with 28 runs from 17 balls, threatened to post a competitive score but their ambitions were cut short by Phillip and some runouts.
The two matches on the cards today will see Guyana Jaguars against the United States at the Queen’s Park Oval and West Indies Emerging players versus the Windwards Volcanoes at the Brian Lara Academy in Tarouba. Both matches get underway at 1.30 pm.
Scores:
GUYANA JAGUARS 187-9 (43) (Jonathan Foo 36, Ramaal Lewis 28, Raymon Reifer 26; Anderson Phillip 4-44) v T&T RED FORCE 191-4 (36) (Tion Webster 87, Jeremy Solozano 39, Jason Mohammed 28, Darren Bravo 26 no; Veerasammy Permaul 2-33)
Result: Red Force won by 6 wkts