WEST Indies head selector Roger Harper has called for vast improvements in the bowling and fielding departments, following the end of the 2019 Colonial Insurance Regional Super50 tournament.

A crafty off-spinner during his Guyana and West Indies playing days, Harper who recently gave a number of reviews following the end of the Super50, specifically touched on the areas of bowling and fielding with regard to more emphasis being placed on improving the two capacities.

While a number of bowlers gave accounts of themselves, whether it be Windies Emerging Players seamer Keon Harding who ended third on the wicket-takers’ list with 18 scalps or the tournament’s most prolific wicket-taker, Leewards medium-pacer Sheeno Berridge who finished with 23; Harper believed that more could have been done by the bowlers.

“While guys have taken wickets, bowling in the death overs hasn’t been as focussed as it could be. The bowlers didn’t seem clear on where and how they should bowl. We didn’t see execution of many yorkers and runs were generally given away on both sides of the wicket. We had four five-wicket hauls and 25 four-wicket hauls. So the bowlers showed they can take wickets.” said Harper.

Fielding this season was mixed by the standards of all teams, as a number of dropped catches as well as other unnecessary mishaps in the field were recorded throughout the tournament; prompting the 56-year-old to call for corrective action on those flaws.

“We definitely need to be more organised in this area (bowling) also the fielding needs to be a bit sharper and of course holding a higher percentage of those catches,” he said.

Going back to its mandatory criteria for West Indies One Day team selection – the Regional One Day tourney – Harper confirmed that the Regional Super50 will be used by the panel of selectors as a means to assess and thus select desiring players to the limited overs side.
He also noted that it will be crucial for the team to gel and have that familiarity needed ahead of the next World Cup.

“There is a lot of 50-over cricket to be played both regionally and for the West Indies team, so guys have a lot of opportunities to showcase their skills and stake a claim for the World Cup squad,” Harper ended.