Red Force or Red Farce?

Tue, Jan 8, '19

AFTER capturing the imagination of the world at the inaugural T20 Champions League in 2009, the Red Force became synonymous with excellence, brilliant fielding, innovative captaincy and exciting cricket.

Today, the Red Force brand is unrecognisable and at its lowest ebb.

There has been much analysis of last year's four-day campaign, when TT embarrassingly finished last with two wins, five losses and three draws. So bad was this country's team's performance that if they doubled their 82.4 points tallied at the end of the season, they would still not have caught champions Guyana (166.8 points).

The debacle of 2017/2018 has been attributed to a changing of the guard, with the selectors placing faith in a number of young players. This year was expected to be different, with this fresh crop having an entire season under their belt and a full preparation for the new 2018/2019 competition.

But it has been the same old same old so far, with the Red Force crashing to defeats at home to the Windward Islands (by 76 runs) and Leeward Islands (by 245 runs). With fixtures against Jamaica (away), Barbados (home) and Guyana (home) next, TT could be staring at another bottom-of-the-barrel finish if they don't turn things around quickly.

The batting in particular has been atrocious, with only one batsman showing up for most games. Stretching back to last season, the Red Force have just one score of 300 or more in their last seven games – losing six and drawing one. This is unacceptable.