DESPITE suffering a 10-run loss to Jamaica in their final preliminary round match in this year’s West Indies Cricket Board NAGICO Super50 tournament, captain of the Malta Supreme Guyana team Christopher Barnwell said the players remain confident.The Guyanese, who last won a Regional List ‘A’ title nine years ago, when they claimed the inaugural WICB KFC Cup, had an intense training session at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus yesterday morning.
Following that session, the 26-year-old Barnwell, expressed to Chronicle Sport, that camaraderie is circulating within the team, despite going under to the Jamaicans who topped the group with the win and relegated the Guyanese to second place.
“We were disappointed after that loss to Jamaica, but it helped boost our confidence for the rest of the tournament at the same time, going into our semifinal match with the same mood and frame of mind, which is a confident one to win,” said Barnwell.
Asked to reflect on that game against Jamaica and what went wrong for his team, readily Barnwell said, “We bowled badly at the bottom of their innings and certainly like any other team would do, they capitalised on it and scored heavily. However, we were confident of chasing down the 243 successfully, just that we lost our way at some part of the run chase, but will not let it deter us from our goal.”
Looking ahead to their semifinal clash against Barbados or Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday, a confident-looking Barnwell said the players are ready and raring to go, irrespective of who their opponent will be on that day.
“We came here to play hard cricket and we know that the other teams will be doing the same, so we do not expect anything to be given to us.”
He added, “We were in training for over a month for success in this tournament and I know that once we stick to our game plan on the day and execute well, it doesn’t matter who the opposition is, we can be victorious.
“We want to win this tournament and we know that in order for us to do so we have to play good cricket from the first ball to the last. As I said, nothing will be handed to us easily and we have to outplay and outsmart the opposition in every department, if we intend to come out victorious and take the trophy back to Guyana after February 15.”
Malta Supreme Guyana were plagued by a flu bug prior to their engagement against Jamaica, which left Ramnaresh Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine, Leon Johnson and Assad Fudadin in a not-so-good condition, which meant that Robin Bacchus was handed his first official game for Guyana.
Quizzed on the condition of the quartet, Barnwell said they are recuperating well and will be ready for action on Thursday.
“The guys are coming along okay and will be ready to go in the semifinal clash on Thursday. Everybody has been putting his shoulders to the wheel since we got here, as the winning of the title is the ultimate goal.
“I think we fought hard to come out of the group stage and get to the semifinals, but at the same time, that is where the work begins and gets harder and the guys are aware of this and have no intentions of giving up despite the circumstances, so in short I can say the loss to Jamaica is a blessing in disguise,” said Barnwell.
Written By Calvin Roberts in Trinidad and Tobago
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