Bonner to bolster Scorpions for remaining four-day fixtures

Discarded West Indies batsman Nkrumah Bonner is set to return to the Jamaica Scorpions squad for its upcoming matches in the 2023 West Indies Four-Day Championship which is set to resume on March 15.

Bonner who toured with the West Indies team to Zimbabwe on their two-Test tour, was overlooked for the tour to South Africa with young Alick Athanaze from the Windward Islands replacing the Jamaican in the Test side.

Bonner is set to play in the third round against the Windward Islands in Trinidad and Tobago with the Jamaican coaching staff elated that the right-hander will return to bolster the team’s batting.

“One of the positives I am really looking forward to is the fact that we will have Bonner back which will add a little bit more experience to the batting which we lacked in the opening encounters,” said assistant coach Nikita Miller.

The Scorpions will be hoping that Bonner’s inclusion will have an immediate impact as the Scorpions’ inexperienced batting line-up was certainly exposed during their opening drawn encounter against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes and their second-round loss to the Barbados Pride.

Miller and head coach Andrew Richardson said they had a heart-to-heart talk with the players and they hope that honest discussions can bear fruit in the upcoming assignments.

“We had a review and forward planning session with all the guys individually and the coach was honest in those one-on-one sessions, and the players have accepted that they have been below par and that those kinds of performances are not acceptable,” Miller said.

ANALYTICAL ASSESSMENT

The Scorpions assistant coach added that the players, specifically the batters, have been provided with written and video analytical assessment and much more is expected come the third round.

“The last three games are pivotal because we need points. What this means is that we need runs from the batters because the bowlers have been doing well. In the last two games no team has gotten any batting points from us,” Miller said.

Rookie all-rounder Abhijai Mansingh is the team’s current leading run-scorer with 145 runs in four innings while left-arm spinner Patrick Harty leads the bowling department with nine wickets in two matches.

The Scorpions are in last place in the six-team standings with 10 points with the Guyana Harpy Eagles currently leading with 28.6 points. The Barbados Pride are in second place with 23 followed by the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force with 20.6.

The Windward Islands Volcanoes are fourth with 19.4 followed by the Leeward Islands Hurricanes in fifth with 17.4.