CMC – Jamaica Scorpions assistant coach, Nikita Miller, believes consistency in length was the major stumbling block for his spinners during the recent first class championships.

Left-arm spinner Patrick Harty, along with off-spinners, Pete Salmon and Jamie Merchant, combined for 49 wickets as Scorpions finished joint third in the standings alongside former champions Guyana Jaguars.

But Miller, a left-arm spinner who retired at the end of last season, after snaring 538 wickets from 100 first class matches, said the trio could have been even more effective.

“In terms of the length and line, especially the length, you could see improvement in terms of grouping [of deliveries],” he explained to the Observer newspaper.

“Bowling at that [club] level, you don’t have to be very consistent to pick up a lot of wickets. At this [first-class] level you have to be more consistent in your groupings – in the lengths and lines that you bowl.

“It took a lot of repetition and a lot of training, training, training. I do a lot of reading, and I read articles and books related to coaching and I can remember reading something from [former Manchester United Manager] Sir Alex [Ferguson].

“And his thing was that in order for an individual to improve you have to do a lot of practice and do things over and over.”

He continued: “I took that on board, and even in games they weren’t doing what they were practising I didn’t get too disheartened, [though] at times naturally you will get a little frustrated because you’ve worked on something so much.

“Instead of getting upset I just kept reminding them to keep pushing. And I urged them as players not to get frustrated either because I know they want to do it.”

Harty was the leading spinner with 22 wickets while Salmon produced the standout performance with a career-best seven-wicket haul to bowl Jamaica to an historic seven-run victory over Jaguars in Georgetown.

Merchant, an off-spinner, claimed 16 wickets from five matches to be one of his side’s main wicket-takers.

Speedster Nicholson Gordon spearheaded Scorpions’ attack, however, snatching 24 wickets and got support from fellow seamer Nicholson Gordon with 17 wickets from five outings.

Miller, who served as Andre Coley’s understudy this season, praised the seam attack but also noted the spinners had improved as the season progressed.

“When you sit down and you see things bearing fruit it’s always a great feeling. For me, it’s no different [when coaching]. I was doing a lot of work, especially with the bowlers – the spin bowlers, the seam bowlers,” he pointed out.

“In this team the seamers are among the more experienced guys, so it didn’t really take a lot to improve them because they have been playing at this level for a little while. But in the spin department … that’s where I focused a lot of my work and a lot of my attention.

“As the season progressed they got better and better, and that gave me a lot of satisfaction. There’s still a lot of work to do to get them to that standard, but I believe they are capable of getting there.”