Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - Hier 06:19

Farewell Jason, excellent work Barbados

I can’t help but feel a touch of sadness for Jason Mohammed, who completed his final game for TT Red Force on the weekend. His team suffered a massive nine-wicket loss against Barbados Pride, and the 39-year-old veteran could only manage an unsatisfactory score of 12 when batting. What makes it harder for him to digest is the fact that he has been the leading run scorer in Super50 Cup history. Therefore, he would have considered having the opportunity to leave the inter-territorial game on a high. However, cricketers know how challenging it is to plan for any particular event, especially to ensure a big innings to say farewell. The fact is that a player’s retirement game allows emotions to rise to the surface and interfere with his equilibrium. That in itself can create some instability in the player. It causes anxiety, which could increase tension and put him off his game. Hence, when he wants to score many runs and be successful in that situation, his mentality causes him to tremble and he’s not his normal self. (A cricketer should really retire in his off-season). Then he plays a loose stroke because of a lack of concentration for the reasons explained earlier and unfortunately, he does not score the runs his heart was yearning for. It was just a simple, soft dismissal prompted by the occasion. And, above it all, his national team was annihilated by Barbados on their home ground at the Brian Lara Stadium. What a pity. Nevertheless, that’s sport, Jason, and I praise you for a fine run as not only a batsman, but a more than useful off-spinner to please any captain. Yours was a splendid career, which included being captain of the West Indies in white-ball cricket and narrowly missing out on playing Test cricket. [caption id="attachment_1193657" align="alignnone" width="1024"] -[/caption] I must add one last remark. Almost two decades ago, there were three young cricketers I witnessed playing. At the time, they were playing under-19 cricket and I made a prediction that the three players I had seen, who were all under 19 at the time and all batsmen, would one day play for the WI. They all did so and I was proud to have seen the promise in these three youngsters fulfilled. Jason Mohammed, Adrian Barath, an opening right-handed batsman, and Darren Bravo, a left-handed batsman had tremendous ability and should have gone on to greater things; however,at some time during their career their temperament let them down. Nonetheless, they all did well and with better treatment, they might have become even better batsmen and cricketers and would have gone on to be world beaters. About the game generally. It was a good toss to win. I’m not making any excuses for the Red Force, but Barbados won the toss and the pitch turned a lot for the spinners, and the pacers derived some movement off the seam. It was also two-paced and of variable bounce. One must observe the facts and that is, the Pride outplayed the TT team by utilising the conditions, while the Red Force just could not cope with the tight bowling of the opposition. Their nagging lengths stifled the Red Force batsmen to the point where their scoring opportunities were reduced to a minimum, which is the object of the limited-overs. Every batsman struggled to score freely because of the bowlers, all of whom, but especially Joshua Bishop and Dominic Drakes, bowled exceedingly well. The only chance for the Red Force to get back into the game would have been to bowl half as well as the Barbadians, but it did not happen. They were loose, while, because the batting conditions had improved, their bowlers needed to be more skilful in order to restrict the scoring, especially knowing there was some assistance from the pitch; however, they were unable to. Accuracy was the key; still, the Red Force bowlers seemed to be trying too hard by mixing their deliveries rather than just bowling a steady line and length. I thought for a moment that they believed the pitch would give them the same help as their opponents, not reading the wicket, hence, realising that tactics had to change if the batsmen had to be contained. Nevertheless, the tactics did not work. The lengths required to bowl for the spinners and the faster men should have been varied, given the conditions. The bowlers were just not up to it.   The post Farewell Jason, excellent work Barbados appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.