BATSMEN DIDN’T DELIVER

Listening to the news this week and speaking to former players the common consensus was that it was the bowlers who are to blame for Jamaica’s surprising loss to Guyana in the playoffs of the recently concluded Caribbean T20 competition. The bowlers were unable to defend what should have been a winning total of 183 for 6 off 20 overs and as a result Jamaica lost an opportunity to take on two-time defending champions Trinidad in the finals.

As it was Guyana were no match for the champions and were summarily disposed of. It was such an easy run for Trinidad that Lendl Simmons was laughing his head off half the time as Trinidad chased 117 to win. It was like taking candy from a baby, the Trinidad win.

Meanwhile, Jamaica was left licking its wounds at yet another failure at the T20 game, unable to even get to the finals. The blame has been heaped on the bowlers and that’s that, but I beg to differ. Yes, the bowlers may not have brought their A game to the match against Guyana but had the batsmen performed Guyana, in my opinion, would have come up short.

Lets look at Jamaica’s scores in the competition leading up to that match. 72 against Barbados, 116 against the Windwards, 110 against the Leewards, and 94 for 5 off 18.1 overs against Guyana. The highest score by a Jamaican batsman up to that point was 44 by Danza Hyatt in the match against the Windwards – 44 out of 116.

For the last two games Chris Gayle, easily the best T20 batsman in the world came in to replace an injured Andrew McClarty and while the scoring improved Jamaica’s batsmen did not. Chasing 151 to win against the Combined Colleges and Campuses Jamaica made 151 for 3 off 16.4 overs, a very good strike rate. However, Gayle, who had endured a very poor run during the Australian Big Bash during which he scored only one half century, feasted on the CCC bowling smashing 85 off just 44 balls. The remainder of the Jamaican batsmen meanwhile scored only 66 runs from the remaining 56 balls.

In the match Jamaica lost to Guyana Gayle smashed his unbeaten 122 off 61 balls, which means that the remainder of the batsmen scored 61 runs from the remaining 59 balls. Are you beginning to see the picture?

Lets break it down further. In that loss to Guyana Hyatt scored seven runs off 16 balls, a strike rate of less than 50 per cent. It gets worse. David Bernard Jr wasted 11 balls and didnt even bother the scorers. That 11 wasted balls. Yannick Elliot mustered six runs from nine balls. Had the middle bastmen managed a run a ball, just six runs an over from the balls they faced, Jamaica would have an an additional 23 runs to defend. Also, had Andre Russell, who came in and smashed a six and a four and lost his wicket on the third ball he faced, managed to stay at the crease and focused on rotating the strike to the man who had been at the crease for almost 17 overs at that time, who knows how many more runs Jamaica would have scored.

The bottom line is that except for Gayle, Jamaica’s batsmen underperformed during the tournament. Gayle’s brilliance only serve to mask what I believe to be an inability of the Jamaican batting line up to think quickly and execute under the intense pressure of the T20 format. They have issues with shot selection, the ability to score quickly and an inability to dominate bowling attacks.

Jamaica doesn’t play all that much T20 cricket so that may be the cause, but what ails Jamaica’s batsmen goes far beyond that.

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5 Responses to “BATSMEN DIDN’T DELIVER”

  1. Fortis says:

    “BATSMEN DIDN’T DELIVER”????????

    When, considering Jamaica made it to the play-offs? Perhaps the author’s choice of title was not well thought out, as it is quite misleading.

    Considering that the 183 made by Jamaica was the 2nd. highest score behind T&T’s 191, the culprit appears to be complacency of the team why it suffered the loss to Guyana! Blame the captain for not being able to motivate the team to defend a fairly big total in T20 cricket!

  2. Paddy5 says:

    The finger pointing on whether batsmen or bowlers didn’t deliver does not solve the problem, the bottom line is, Jamaica failed again.

  3. buds says:

    I agree totally–The Jamaican batsmen failed miserably–Plus, Tamar’s complacent captaincy in the Semis against Guyana contributed to the loss. He was convinced that we would go through with that huge total largly because of Gayle. The other batsmen did not deliver and we should not blame the bowlers for doing a fine job throughout the tournament. Bad mnagement, team sslection and complacency were the culprits for JA’s failure.

  4. johntowit says:

    Well every day you learn more and more, Tamar has learnt a most valuable and telling lesson – indeed. Yea they all got complacent, and they should remember u cant take a nap in T20 as you say who lives here 1 innings is over.

    But I’ve been studying Gayle and its not just West Indians, Jamaicans who gets into a spell after watching a Gayle onslaught/firestorm. It also entraps is RCB players as well, and is big bash team mates – so that’s something that sports pyschologist would want to look into.

  5. Richard says:

    This analysis is spot on mate. I was particularly upset by Russell’s dismissal. With about five overs to go the guy came in and behaved as if he was chasing a huge total. It was almost disrespectful to CG and the work he had put in prior to Russell walking to the wicket. Truth be told, Jamaica did not deserve to go further than they did based on their overall performance. They probably saved us embarrassment in the Champions League.

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levyl Posted by: levyl January 22, 2013 at 11:55 pm