High

Tall pacers Leveridge, Levy provide encouragement for Scorpions coach

Robert Samuels, the head coach of Jamaica Scorpions, says he has “great hopes” for the fast bowling unit entering their opening game of the West Indies four-day cricket tournament away to Barbados Pride, starting next Thursday.

Medium pacer Derval Green took over 20 wickets last season as the Scorpions finished fourth behind four-time defending champions Guyana Jaguars and runners-up Barbados Pride. No other pacer got double figures for the Scorpions.

“I have great hopes for the fast-bowling department... I think that [fast bowling] is where we have been weakest and that is what has been letting us down for the most part,” Samuels said, noting the bonus points earned for wickets taken by pace bowlers during the competition.

In the Scorpions’ 13-man squad named for the Pride encounter, Green is joined by the pair of tall speedsters Jermaine Levy and Reynard Leveridge.

Levy, a newcomer to the Scorpions set-up, attended school at Lacovia High and then St Elizabeth Technical, before studying at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.

The 25-year-old Levy, who represented Jamaica at the Under-19 level, played for Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) Marooners during the recent regional Super50 tournament, and starred with four wickets in the final as his team lifted the title. His lone firstclass cap came for the CCC in 2014.

“Jermaine left here about four and a half years ago and went to Cave Hill in Barbados to study. Every time I saw him he got better and better and was growing stronger and stronger,” Samuels told the Jamaica Observer during training at Sabina Park on Thursday.

“He came into the Super League (local franchise competition) bowling very well; he’s bowling with pace, he’s bowling with energy. The selectors were very impressed with him and now he’s in [the squad].

“He’s a young fast bowler, but he has the experience of coming through youth cricket as a fast bowler, going to Barbados, and they usually produce good fast bowlers because they have good fast bowling people around them. I’m looking to see what he has to offer,” added Samuels.

Leveridge, 28, has endured injury challenges since making a late introduction to competitive cricket, and only making his first-class debut

(Photo: garfield Robinson) Jamaica Scorpions pacer Jermaine Levy during training at Sabina Park on Thursday Jamaica Scorpions fast bowler Reynard Leveridge during a practice session at Sabina Park last season

(Photo: Joseph Wellington) SAMUELS... he was running in fast and bowling fast and he thought that was what fast bowling was about, [but] over time he has learnt that fast bowling is about the skill set

(Photo: Michael gordon)