Adrian Frater, News Editor
Western Burea:

In listening to some of the interviews conducted with members of the national cricket team, following the recent Caribbean Twenty20 Cricket Tournament in Antigua and Barbados, one gets the impression that they feel coming third was not a bad result. To that I say, hogwash.

For me, a cartoon published on Page A7 of Tuesday's Gleaner captures my feelings, like the character depicted in the cartoon, I also ask, "What is there to be happy about."

Like most local cricket fans with access to ESPN, I watched most of the games and to be frank, in my opinion, Jamaica appeared to be the only team that did not enter the competition with a plan. Our batting, except for Marlon Samuels, at times, lacked conviction and our bowling, except for Krishmar Santokie, was brainless for the most part.

I have been watching Twenty20 cricket religiously since this version of the game became popular a few years ago and based on the way I have seen players from India, England, Australia and South Africa acquit themselves, it would appear that this version of the game is more about clinical execution than luck.

a 'curry goat' match

I believe Jamaica's greatest downfall in the recent tournament was the fact that the planning was woefully faulty, and as a consequence, the batsmen batted as if they were playing Test cricket. The bowlers bowled as if they were involved in a 'curry goat' match. I saw absolutely nothing to suggest they were playing to a plan.

While it was the players who were on television irritating me with their apparent lack of application and conviction, I would not place the blame at their feet. I saw nothing to suggest that coach Gus Logie and the management team did what was expected of them, which was to prepare a team to give us a fighting chance.

In fact, outside of some insightful sound bites, which sounded quite good on radio and television, I have seen nothing from coach Logie to suggest to me that anything positive has transpired with our cricket since he came here with what many felt was the expertise to turn around our fortunes in Twenty20 cricket.

While not seeking to belittle coach Logie's general coaching credentials, I feel obligated to question his judgement in regards to team selection, especially the choice of Wavel Hinds, who I believe was uninspiring in his leadership and clearly lacked the capacity to lead by example.

In my opinion, bulky or not, all-rounder Tamar Lambert is easily the best captain in Jamaica at this time and regardless of the version of the game, he should have been given the job to lead the team.

Lambert has been one of our most reliable batsmen in recent times, his bowling is usually tight and he is, as I stated above, our best captain.

As we looking ahead to the upcoming four-day regional tournament, I must say I am somewhat wary about the idea of keeping Gus Logie as head coach. We have been enjoying more than a fair amount of success in this version of the game under former coach Junior Bennett and I believe he should be reinstated with immediate effect.

Outside of athletics and netball, cricket remains the sport that has provided us with the most satisfaction in recent years. I am therefore imploring our administrators to be cautious about tinkering with what we have lest our four-day game start going the route of what we saw of our Twenty20 in Antigua and Barbados.

Feel free to send your feedback to adrianfrater@hotmail.com