Pollard unfazed by defeats

Kieron Pollard, the captain of the Barbados Tridents, has said that he will remain calm and collected despite Barbados' losses in their previous two games in the inaugural Caribbean Premier League. Barbados currently top the table after starting with four wins on the trot, though indifferent form later on meant losses to the Guyana Amazon Warriors and the Antigua Hawksbills.

"I never worry or panic. I trust and believe in my players and they, in me. We have areas to improve on, I admit. The team needs to be more consistent," Pollard said. "Two losses can be overturned and we're here to play cricket as professionals and win. We're looking to top the table and need to be sharper in the field, and not lose wickets in clusters."

Desmond Haynes, the Barbados coach, also emphasised that the recent defeats were not cause for concern, as the team can assure top spot on the table with a victory over the Jamaica Tallawahs in Kingston today. "I think we're going to bounce back. Jamaica's dangerous but we have our plans set out. Our players know the job that needs to be done against them," Haynes said.

Paul Nixon, the Jamaica coach, meanwhile, saw his team fall to third after Thursday's loss to Guyana and admitted that stiff lessons were learnt.

"We made our mistakes and I fell short in terms of strategy and tactics, but we know we need to step it up big time against what many see as the best team in the CPL." Nixon said.

Fast bowler Vernon Philander, Jamaica's South African signing, has been turning in remarkable cameos with the bat. He said he was hungry to derail Barbados. "The Jamaica camp has been great. The boys are gelling well and having fun," Philander said. "We play the game to win and obviously we're going to give it our best shot and hopefully it comes off. We want to top the table though it will be hard.

"I came out here to get the experience with the white ball and to prep for me moving forward at the international level. Hopefully I can take a lot more sticks and obviously keep a lot of people happy and a lot of [batsmen] unhappy as well. I want to scalp out Barbados first and foremost."