Bassarath: Red Force batsmen not cutting it

The Red Force slumped to another home defeat on Sunday, losing to the Jamaica Scorpions by 87 runs at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair. The Red Force are now at the bottom of the six-team standings.

Bassarath said, “The coach sounds very disappointed and he has a right to sound that way, and the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board also is very disappointed with the batting performance of the team. We think that the bowlers are doing what they are supposed to do, the bowlers are right on target. Imagine we bowled out Jamaica twice for 201 runs, which is a small total and our batting failed in both innings.” Bassarath said the players are given the support required in terms of facilities to train, but says they are lacking focus.

“I think the commitment (and) dedication (are lacking), it seems to us that they are not focused. I want to stress the point that we maybe failed to put them through enough mental preparation, but every other thing they were given.

“The approach to the batting was not good at all. The shot selection was very, very poor indeed.

Some of the shots that were played it seems to us that the batsmen just wanted to get out and go back in the pavilion and sit down.” It was reported that Red Force coach Gus Logie is contemplating stepping down, but Bassarath says it is up to him because his contract does not end until later this year.

“Mr Logie is the coach.

He will be the coach until his contract expires later this year. He hinted that he will resign after the season. I don’t know what is in his mind, but we will have to lend support and see what could be done. I can’t say whether there will be changes or no changes at this point in time.” Bassarath said everybody cannot point fingers to Logie as there are many factors that lead to a team’s lack of success.

Bassarath acknowledged that Logie has not had an impact on the fourday fortunes of TT , but added that the captain’s bowling changes and the lack of application from the batsmen can be looked at also. Bassarath noted the lack of experience in the team is also leading to the poor results. He cited the absences of Ravi Rampaul, Lendl Simmons, the Bravo brothers (Dwayne and Darren) and Sunil Narine for various reasons have hurt TT in the four-day competition.

The TT CB president noted though that young off spinner Bryan Charles is one player that has impressed him so far.