By Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer
Trinidad and Tobago's captain, Daren Ganga (left), and members of his team arrive in the island yesterday ahead of their sixth round Carib Beer Series match at Alpart starting on Friday. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
JAMAICA'S NATIONAL cricket coach, Robert Haynes, was in no mood to mince words when asked about his side's performance in the 2004 Regional Carib Beer Series.
Upon his arrival from Antigua yesterday where Jamaica struggled to take first innings honours from West Indies B, coach Haynes lashes out at the fielders and batsmen, but gave some credit to his bowlers.
After five games, Jamaica, who Haynes said would win the regional, have 28 points and are behind leaders Barbados with the maximum 60 points and Trinidad and Tobago with 36. Snapping at Jamaica's heels are West Indies B with 27 and the Windward Islands with 24 with two matches to go before the International Shield semi-finals Jamaica's only hope for a four-day title this year.
West Indies B and Kenya, two guest teams in the competition, gave Jamaica a run for their money in recent encounters but Haynes said it would not have happened if his side took its catches.
"In both games our fielding was atrocious. It was really, really bad, we are dropping some simple catches. In both games we must have dropped about 11 to 12 catches, if you are going to win cricket matches, you don't want that to happen when the bowlers are bowling so well," Haynes said.
With just two days before their sixth-round clash against Trinidad and Tobago at Alpart on Friday, Haynes said: "Although Kenya made 300-plus against us they had only two good partnerships; of 96 and 104 runs. Within those partnerships we dropped both batters about twice or more than twice," Haynes said, while expressing disgust at his team's current position in the standings.
BATTING POORLY
"We are batting poorly. The guys are not really standing up and batting, they are getting into 20s and 30s and getting themselves out," he said.
Despite doing a lot of work in the nets, Haynes said he "thinks the (batsmen's) concentration is really poor."
He said for batsmen who have played first-class cricket and scored hundreds before are "not showing the true grit that we are looking for".
