Coach of the Leeward Islands cricket team Reginald Benjamin said he will not hesitate to make changes if players fail to step up to the plate and deliver some good performances in the ongoing WICB’s Regional 4-Day competition.

His statement comes on the heels of an innings and 23 runs’ defeat at the hands of Trinidad & Tobago Red Force in St Kitts over the weekend.

“I am not going to carry people based on friendship and if this team does not perform then decisions will be made and they know that and we know that and management knows that … I know that these guys know they have to perform so it’s not that we are going to sit around and be cool with other team members or be cool with the coach and think it’s not going to happen; and I can assure you of that,” he said.

read more at Antigua Observer

Too late...he should have sung that tune prior to the competition.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

I wish him well, when the team is not talented threatening to make changes might not change the results.

In reply to dayne

The loss has very little to do with talent.
These guys played very little competitive cricket.
Yes the played a lot of cricket and did an lot of training during the off season but very little competitive high level cricket.
The coach is right and I can tell he's serious .
Let's see how the guys respond to the warning.

In reply to dayne

Disagree that the team is not talented but more like not prepared for competitive cricket. You cannot have players in a camp for 6 months and not have a tournament before the PCL where you can test their form to determine their readiness for the season. You will also be able to select the best players based on their performances at that tournament.

Cornwall, Alzhari Joseph( U19 bowler), Kacey Carty( top scorer U19), Tonge are all talented players. In the absence of Kieran Powell why is Chesney Hughes not considered and pursued? Where is Jahmar Hamilton ( toured with the A team). Jeremiah Louis? The best player are not even in the team for chrissakes.

In reply to dayne

And they weren't even playign that
The players were palying a lot of local cricket (on weekend, mix with local team) but they weren't like playing againt any 'island' teams per ce.
So before you say they no talented see if they improve or not.
Das all me ah say

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

and what will that do unless u are bringing KP, Chesney and those lads

In reply to voiceofreason

VOR, you keep talking about Chesney, you sure de man want to play for us
Next I heard they reached out to KP. ain't sure what was the result. But see he no with the team.
In fact I know for sure they reached out to him, from before the start of the CPL.

In reply to positiveg

Have they reached out to Chesney? You see this is the information that should be passed on to the public. We made every effort to contact Messrs Hughes and Powell but they declined. So now we are guessing. Where is Jahmar Hamilton and Jeremiah Louis? Quinton Boatswain?

Which other team has had players playing "high level cricket" prior to this PCL tournament?

If you are 35 years old (Shane Jeffers) with only 2 centuries from over 50 matches and still opening the batting for LI then the problem is much deeper than the coaches message.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

As I've stated before Leeward Islands cricket is a microsm of West Indies cricket: too much island politics.

In reply to imusic

Was wondering the same thing.. De Jaguars players trained 4 days a week and played club cricket almost every weekend..

Ah hope de coach realises dat de buck stops wid him and is prepared to changed as well. Wat dey say about a bad workman?

In reply to imusic Not saying high level cricket but you should have a tournament where you can select players based on MERIT.

Windwards did have a sub regional tournament prior to the PCL. Leewards cancelled their sub -regional tournament on some ridiculous premise that they would prefer to have it before the draft so they can know which players to retain. Well why not have it still and then next year have it before the PCL draft?

Now PG says that the players played club cricket in St. Kitts? Really?

In reply to voiceofreason

But vor, did any other territory play a tournament prior to this PCL competition?

To the best of my jkniwledge, Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana and T&T all had trials. Outside of that, their cricketers playsd local cclub cricket.

Did Leewards have trials? If they did, they would have the same prep as everyone else

In reply to imusic

They didn't have trials really, they retained some the uys from last year. As there was a new coach I guess his premise was let me see who I can worked with. I heard some the guys didn't actually report to camp, so they got dropped.
There was no LICA tourney, and the guys trained and played club cricket on the weekend. So guess they basically did what other teams did.

In reply to imusic

VOR,
Isn't this a grand opportunity for a sports journalist to seek out KP and do an interview with him so that we can find out what's going on? Enquiring minds want to know. And we miss him. What are the journalists doing, they are swamped with work??????!!!!

In reply to imusic

Local club cricket in TNT, Jamaica, Guyana and Barbados is akin to Lica Sub Regional Bbetween the islands comprising LICA: Antigua and Barbuda, St.Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Maarten and Montserrat. This is supposed to be the highest level in the Leewards and where players can be selected.

Leewards had no trial matches and they sure did not have a Sub Regional Tournament. Windwards had a Sub Regional Tournament that preceded the PCL.


We keep repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.

In reply to voiceofreason... sounds like is a Yaadie running Lwrds cricket.

In reply to Outswinger

I have always wondered why a Nevisian Journalist could not investigate the whereabouts of Kieran Powell. After all this is an esteemed son of the soil who made it to the highest level of cricket. I will look into this further.

In reply to natty_forever

Benjamin seem to have a no nonsense approach but I believe his comments are both premature and misdirected this early in the season.