Better planning and preparation were the key – Coley

TAROUBA, Trinidad:

SATURDAY WOULD have been the final day of the West Indies Championship match between the Jamaica Scorpions and the Windward Islands Volcanoes, but instead some members of the Jamaican franchise had the day off, as the team wrapped up an innings victory inside three days at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.

While pleased with the win, head coach Andre Coley and a couple members of the squad were right back in training at the match venue, as the team continued to put in more work in a bid to keep their winning mentality with two more rounds to go.

Coley described the win against the Volcanoes as a complete team effort, with the Scorpions getting runs from Brandon King who made a century to go with a half-century from Jamie Merchant and 48 from captain John Campbell.

The Jamaican franchise was also excellent with the ball, restricting the Volcanoes to under 200 runs in both innings, with fast bowlers Marquino Mindley and Derval Green bagging five wickets, with Nicholson Gordon chipping in with four wickets and off-spinner Merchant bagging five.

In the field, the Scorpions also got a passing grade from coach Coley with Jermaine Blackwood standing out with three catches at slip in the second innings.

WAKE-UP CALL

For Coley, back-to-back losses in the first two rounds gave the team a wake-up call, only looking up from here out.

“We were all honest in terms of admitting that we didn’t play well in the first two rounds. We were not pointing fingers at anyone but ourselves and we knew we had to be better,” said Coley.

Coley said he was pleased to see the team pulling together and how well captain Campbell led the team, but credited the pre-match preparations for the positive outcome.

“Our preparations were better in terms of how we studied the players and the information that was shared with the players. We need to continue and improve on this with still two tough matches against Guyana and the Leewards to come.”

The Jamaican franchise will face the Guyana Harpy Eagles starting on Wednesday at the new Diego Martin Sporting Complex, also in Trinidad.