‘Sting them!’ Samuels tells Scorpions.
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JAMAICA SCORPIONS head coach Robert Samuels said he is confident that the country can win this year’s Regional Super50 tournament, which will be held in Barbados.
The Scorpions performed very poorly in last year’s tournament, where they failed to make it past the group stages.
Samuels told The Gleaner prior to the team’s departure yesterday that they have assembled a very strong unit for the tournament and is optimistic that it will do well.
“Yes, it could be our year, because I am pleased with what I have seen from the players,” Samuels said.
“On paper, the team is a very strong one, but the players need to go out there and perform, and once we get the performances, then we will be alright,” he said.
“We have good players, we have experienced players, and we have youth mixed with seniors. Once they go out and perform, then we will do well,”
Samuels said.
The Scorpions have been drawn in
Group B with hosts Barbados Pride,
Leeward Islands Hurricanes, Combined Campuses and Colleges
(CCC), and the United
States.
Group A comprises defending champions Windward Islands Volcanoes, Guyana Jaguars, Trinidad and Tobago Red
Force, West Indies ‘B’, and Canada.
The Scorpions are set to play their first game against the CCC on October 4.
The squad includes captain Nikita Miller, Chris Gayle, André Russell, Chadwick Walton, Jerome Taylor, Jermaine Blackwood, André McCarthy, Brandon King, Fabian Allen, Rovman Powell. However, Gayle, Russell and Powell will only be available for two matches.
Samuels added that despite the strength of the Scorpions unit, the players will have to go out there and play good cricket in order to win the competition.
DRIVEN BY HUNGER
“The aim is to always go out there and win tournaments, but the players have to be hungry enough to want to go out there and perform day in and out,” said Samuels.
“We will have a game every two days, so you need to be hungry and you need to be passionate about it. You need to want to score runs and you would want to do well and to maintain you passion throughout a tournament like this,” he said.
The other members of the squad are Nkrumah Bonner, Paul Palmer, Christopher Lamont, Oshane Thomas, and Gordon Bryan. Jamaica last won the competition in 2011.