Scorpions banking on new attitude
CRICKET LOVELY Cricket is set to make its much-awaited return to Sabina Park today when the Jamaican Scorpions host the Windward Islands Volcanoes in the opening round of the West Indies Championship.
That fixture is not the only game that Jamaica will be hosting, as the Robert Samuels-coached Combined Campuses and Colleges face off with Barbados at Chedwin Park.
But all eyes will be on the mecca of cricket in Jamaica as the Scorpions look to capitalise on home advantage, having played all their games away for the past three seasons.
The Scorpions will want to shrug off all the negatives from last season, where the Andrew Richardson-coached side finished at the bottom of the standings, losing four of their five games.
Richardson has since admitted that this year’s team has been showing a new attitude and he emphasised that he now has a ‘team’ that he expects to give a good account.
Pundits have questioned the selection of veteran players, the likes of captain Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Chadwick Walton and Derval Green. However, Richardson made it clear that those players’ selection was justified.
“Since we have been without former captain John Campbell, I believe a player like Chadwick Walton can help us at the top of the innings to give us a good start, which has been our Achilles heel for many seasons. We have guys who are just shy of six to 12 months out of international cricket, and it would be unfair to discard players of such quality, who are still performing.”
Richardson said the make-up of the final eleven will be decided after seeing the pitch this morning but with the Windwards missing key batters such as West Indies players Alick Athanaze and Kavem Hodge, Richardson says his team will be going hard at the visitors.
“If you look at the majority of their production last season, a couple of those batters will not be playing in this encounter, and that is something that we will be looking to capitalise on.”
In the meantime, the Windwards will be hoping that young captain Kimani Melious, along with Trinidadian opener Jeremy Solozano and veteran Sunil Ambris, can bring them the runs.
They will rely heavily on pacers Shermon Lewis and Shamar Springer along with spinner Kenneth Dember to be among the wickets.