PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago Red Force skipper Rayad Emrit believes his batsmen are suffering from a crisis of confidence.He was speaking in the wake of this side’s 37-run loss to Jamaica at Queen’s Park Oval here on Monday, where they were chasing a moderate 239, struggled to make inroads and plunged to their first defeat of the WICB Professional Cricket League season.
“It’s all about confidence, you know if you not getting scores, their confidence is a little low,” Emrit told the Trinidad Express newspaper.
“Having said that, Nikita Miller, who I thought would be most effective for them, showed his class again and showed why he is one of the best bowlers and spinners in the region hats off to him. But I still thought we made him get on top of us by just being bogged down for the entire innings.”
It was the left-arm spinner Miller who engineered Red Force’s demise, snapping up seven for 63, as the hosts slipped to 84 for six just after lunch on the final day.
Emrit, who struck 30 and Nicholas Pooran, who got 55, added 65 for the seventh wicket but once they were separated, the last four wickets tumbled for 52 runs.
“We struggled on a pitch that I thought was very decent for batting but (the batting) it was the same as the last two games, the batsmen not even putting up the fight out in the middle,” Emrit pointed out.
“The bowlers are doing a tremendous job getting wickets and getting us back in the game and to remain competitive, but our batters showed no fight at all. It’s about pride really.”
Red Force also suffered a meltdown in their first innings, shot out for 131 and this performance mirrored outings in the previous rounds.
Against Barbados Pride in the opening round, Red Force were bundled out for 96 in their first innings and fared no better against lowly Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the second round, dismissed for 130 again in their first innings.
Red Force, fourth in the standings on 23 points, hosts leaders Guyana Jaguars in the fourth round starting tomorrow, and Emrit called for an enhanced performance from his side.
“Our batsmen have to come to the game against Guyana and help post a good, competitive score. Our bowlers have shown they can do the job and contain batsmen. With the likes of (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul, (Assad) Fudadin etc out on West Indies duty, it is important that we press home any advantage we have” the all-rounder said.