Logie say TT players "did not step up"

Quote:[size=12pt]By Roger Seepersad

Story Created: Mar 24, 2015 at 8:36 PM ECT

After losing their final match of the Professional Cricket League regional four-day campaign, the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force retreated to the dressing room to reflect on what would have been a very disappointing season.

They won just two matches, drew two and lost six to finish second from last on the six-team standings. After losing to Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain Couva on Monday, Red Force coach Gus Logie said that they “talked about some of the positives from the season” but also lamented the fact that more players did not step up.

Jason Mohammed was T&T’s best batsmen, scoring 587 runs with two centuries and two half-centuries from ten matches.

He was sixth on the list of leading batsmen this season coming in behind Devon Smith, Tyrone Theophile, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope and Shane Dowrich.

Yannic Cariah scored 431 runs in eight matches with three half centuries to finish as T&T’s second best batsman.

In the bowling department Imran Khan finished third on the list of top bowlers with 56 wickets which is a T&T record for a single season.

Guyana’s Veerasammy Permaul topped the list with 67 wickets while Devendra Bishoo was second with 61.

T&T pacer Marlon Richards was T&T second best bowler with 27 wickets. Rayad Emrit and Shannon Gabriel finished with 13 each.

“We congratulated people like Jason Mohammed who scored nearly 600 runs for the season. Imran Khan took 56 wickets for a Trinidad and Tobago record for a season. Young Richards took 27 wickets so it has been a good season for him as well but not many players stepped up to the plate and in a team environment you need more players consistently contributing scores and taking wickets,” Logie explained.

Consistency he said was a major problem for the Red Force and he insisted that it is something they will have to look at carefully going forward.


“It is a sort of discipline we have been asking from our players all season and we had it in spurts but not consistently and not all the players putting it together at one time and I think we paid the price for that,” said Logie.

“It is something we have to look at carefully. The way we prepare, how we prepare and making sure that players take more responsibility when they get out there in the middle,” he added.

Despite their performance this season, Logie believes their investment in the younger players over the course of the season will pay off in the long run.

“I think you need a consistent group of players. You need to play with the same group a number of times. If we want to invest in the youngsters, we’ve got to back the players and stay with them,” he said.

“If you look at the season, we had to change quite a few players because of injury or unavailability of players. We need to settle down and realise that if we are having a one day team, it is a one day team and if we having a four day team it is a four-day team.

“These are the guys we have identified and these are the guys we’ve got to stick with and give them a run and see how it goes. It is about consistency of selection as well and at the end of the day if we can do that, get the players comfortable I have no doubt that we will see better results in the not too distant future,” Logie added.[/size]