Scorpions ready to sting in Super50

Assistant coach of the Jamaica Scorpions Nikita Miller warns that there is no room for complacency in the national side ahead of their opening game in the Regional Super50 Cup against defending champions Trinidad and Tobago.

The Scorpions, who last won the tournament in 2011, will battle the Red Force on February 11 in Antigua and Barbuda.

In an interview with The Gleaner from the team’s base in the Eastern Caribbean island, Miller pointed out that the condensed tournament, which has been cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, means that the Jamaicans cannot afford a slow start at the tournament.

“In anything that you play in, you want to start well, and that is very important because you don’t want to be chasing the game,” said Miller. “It is a shortened tournament where there are only six preliminary games, and so we definitely want to get ahead and stay ahead, and it is very important that from the first game, we hit the ground running and get a positive result.”

ANTICIPATING EXCITING CONTEST

The former spinning ace said he was anticipating an exciting contest between the old foes and singled out his team’s decision-making as a key area of focus going into the encounter.

“Both teams have done well over the years, and so it is a rivalry, and it is good rivalry, and when you look at the players that they have, some of their guys ply their trade around the world, and we also have players playing around the world, too, and so it should be a very exciting encounter,” Miller said.

“I believe that we have to take our singles and rotate the strike because we are very capable of hitting boundaries. We are known for hitting boundaries over the years, and so if we can score more singles than our opponents,, and with the power that we have in our batting line-up, we are always going to score more runs than our opponents,” Miller added.

Miller was the captain of the Scorpions team, which was beaten by Trinidad and Tobago in their last appearance in the final in 2016. He underscored that those memories are still fresh in the players’ minds and that they are anxious to do well this year.

“I think we have a well-balanced team in terms of it is not being lopsided where one department is stronger than the other. I believe that the bowling is as strong as the batting and so we are feeling confident ahead of this tournament,” Miller said.

robert.bailey@gleanerjm.com