IT WAS a year of opportunity for many players with a generally satisfying outcome. That sums up the view of Barbados Pride cricket captain Shamarh Brooks, who led his side to second place in the just concluded Digicel Professional Cricket League Regional 4-Day Tournament.
Guyana Jaguars were the champions, but given all the relevant factors, Brooks believes his side did well.
“This season for us was a trial and error season. We gave a lot of people opportunities . . . to see how they stay at this level. In some instances it paid dividends and [in] some others . . . I guess we may need to go back to the drawing board,” Brooks told NATIONSPORT after his side’s comprehensive victory over the Jamaica Scorpions at Kensington Oval on Sunday.
“I don’t think we did too badly. In our situation we had our Test players coming in and out of the team, while Guyana have been having their team year in, year out, so I think we have done well to come second this season.”
No difficulty
Brooks said he had no difficulty motivating his players to play with the required intensity for the final game despite the championship being already decided. The Pride captain said he has always believed in developing a winning habit.
“I think winning should be a habit and whenever we get a chance to win a cricket game we should make the most of it,” Brooks said.“ . . . I think people
in the stands want to see good cricket and that is something I always thrive on, for the Barbados team to get into the habit of winning cricket games. We did well today [Sunday] to win this game handsomely,” said Brooks.
Like Brooks, head coach Emmerson Trotman identified the development of young players as an important aspect of the season.
“Developing the youngsters was an important goal and they have done very well,” Trotman said.
Responding to criticism that the scoring rate by the Barbados batsmen in the recently concluded match was too slow, Trotman agreed, but pointed out that the players will learn over time how to adapt to various situations.
Satisfied
Team manager Wendell Coppin was also satisfied with the team’s performance.
“Based on the composition of the side over the course of the year, I think we did exceedingly well. We had six debutants this year,” Coppin noted.
He was full of praise for the team, which also included inexperienced players like Keon Harding. He praised the overall effort, recognising that they did well to adjust
to the challenge of dealing with captains who had distinct differences in philosophy.
Coppin was full of praise for Kevin Stoute, Kraigg Brathwaite and Brooks, who have shared the leadership roles over the past few seasons.
“We saw Shamarh Brooks growing into the role. Initially [he was] a bit apprehensive, not sure of what he should do in terms of how to manage the young players and fuse them with the senior players. By the end you can see that as a captain he has grown significantly,” said Coppin.
“Today is evidence of that. There were only two people in our dressing room who believed that Barbados could win and Shamarh Brooks was one of them,” said Coppin.
Source: Philip Hackett – DailyNation
