CMC – Barbados Pride captain, Raymon Reifer has praised his batsmen for their outstanding performance that helped them book a spot in Saturday’s final of the Regional Super50.
Barbados defeated defending champions Trinidad & Tobago Red Force by 153 runs in a lopsided contest at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Wednesday and now await the winner of Thursday’s clash between the Leeward Islands Hurricanes and the Jamaica Scorpions.

Reifer made 65, and was one of three Pride batsmen that scored half centuries, with Zachary McCaskie top scoring with 94, while Leniko Boucher made 69.
Roston Chase also chipped in with 43 as the Pride amassed 339 for seven in their 50 overs, the highest total in this year’s competition.
Speaking after the match, Reifer said his teammates were disappointed after being hammered by nine wickets by the Red Force in their final preliminary game last Saturday and wanted to make amends.

“We were pretty disappointed with the result from Saturday’s game, so we just went back and assessed the game, picked up where we went wrong and just tried to apply it today and it worked,” Reifer said.
“I thought the whole batting unit stood out, the way how the guys went out there and played fearless cricket to get us to a very good total, because we knew that we had to get a good total because the ball comes on a lot better at night, so we needed to put some scoreboard pressure on them.”

Reifer said Chase, who also took two wickets with his off spin, was a welcomed addition to the squad after returning from the West Indies’ white-ball series against England.
“You can’t ask for something better than for someone coming back down from international cricket.
“You know he was a cut above today and he showed his class, and it was very good for the team as well, so well done to him,” Reifer said.
The captain said with two days’ rest before Saturday’s final, the spirit in the camp was high.

“The plan is just to keep the mood in the camp as good as possible and continue to focus on what we need to do for the next game so that we can get that W to win the championship.
“I thought the guys prepared well for this competition and it’s clearly showing in our results,” Reifer said.
He said they weren’t worried about their opponent in the final, but were instead focusing on how they could improve their game.

“To be honest, I’m not really looking too much into their game. We just like to focus on what we can do and how we can do it to the best of our ability,” Reifer said.
“You know once we do that and stick to our game, we’re not worried too much about the opposition and naturally the result will take care of itself.”
Meanwhile, Red Force captain Khary Pierre admitted that his side fell down with both bat and ball.

“I think we went wrong all around with the ball and with the bat. I think Barbados played a great game, they were positive, they started well and that momentum carried them with the bat.
“I think 339 on the board was a good score, but halfway through I thought we could have gotten the runs, but I just think we faltered. No batsmanship was showed, we lost wickets in clusters and we had no partnerships,” Pierre said.