Scorpions looking for patience, discipline

FEBRUARY 14 is Valentine’s Day where love permeates the air, but the beleaguered Jamaica Scorpion cricketers are making it clear they will be showing none to the Combined Campuses and Colleges when their second-round West Indies Championship match bowls off today at Sabina Park at 10 a.m.

The Scorpions are desperate to end their regional four-day losing streak having not won a game all of last season and losing the opening encounter of the new campaign to the Windward Islands Volcanoes last week.

The Andrew Richardson-coached Scorpions sit in sixth place in the eight-team standings with just 4.4 points, and they play the College men, who are rooted at the foot of the table following their huge loss to Barbados in round one.

Richardson said the team will be taking a more patient and disciplined approach, as they look to first, fix their batting, and then tighten up their bowling if they are to get maximum points and bonus points on offer.

“Our start is going to be important and we want to control the game from the first innings, which will allow us to set up the game,” said Richardson.

When asked about the batting flop of the senior players from the first encounter, Richardson made it clear that they knew what they had to do.

“At this point, it is not about ability. It has to be a tactical approach from the players,” said Richardson.

For the round-two encounter, the Jamaica Scorpions made one change to their 13-man squad, bringing in fast bowler Ojay Shields in place of Derval Green.

Assistant coach Nikita Miller explained the change.

“If you noticed from the first game, the Windwards used an all-seam attack and they had at least one bowler who was pushing speeds of 85 [miles per hour]. We believe we needed that extra pace to complement our medium pacers, and Shields is our fastest bowler,” said Miller.

There have been calls in and around the cricket circles to have young West Indies U19 World Cup player Jordan Johnson join the Scorpions team, but Miller explained that Johnson was signed to play for the West Indies Academy even before he had gone to the Youth World Cup.

Johnson will join the Academy squad when they take on Trinidad and Tobago in St Kitts.

In other games starting today, the Barbados Pride take on the Windward Islands Volcanoes at Kensington Cricket Club, while the Leeward Islands Hurricanes face the Guyana Harpy Eagles at Warner Park in St Kitts.