Nortel Championship: Winning combination (17 July 1999)

17 July 1999

Nortel Championship: Winning combination

The Barbados Nation

A confident, unchanged Barbados will resume their Nortel West Indies Under-19 championship campaign today against a team which includes some of their countrymen.

Coach Darnley Boxill said there was simply no reason to change his winning combination for the three-day Group B match against the Nortel Development XI at Weymouth "A". Included in that team are four Barbadians, Ryan Nurse, Ryan Layne, Jason Gilkes and captain Randy Graham.

Barbados recorded the first victory of the tournament on Wednesday, a 10-wicket win against the Windward Islands at Kensington Oval.

"We have a winning unit, we won in two days and the only way to improve that is by winning in one day," Boxill said with a laugh. "We did quite well. You can't ask more of a team. It has balance and ability and another three players can do well," he said.

The team, which he described as having the ingredients to be successful, dropped a few catches, and this is one area they have to correct.

"I only hope we get better as we go on. They were tight and dropped a few catches, but there is hardly a series without drop catches. The idea is not to dropped too many."

Boxill said that he was not underestimating The Nortel XI, which is made up of players from the region who did not make their national squads.

"They drew against Guyana, so they must be good. They should be more confident in their second game and will be tougher. We will play hard and not be complacent because I don't believe that we will roll over them, although we are capable of doing that."

"We are not going to be handed a gift by the Nortel XI," he added.

Boxill said there was no guarantee that all four Barbadians would make the Nortel starting line-up, but the opposing Bajans would be familar with each other's styles.

Spin played a very important role in the first match against the Windward Islands, but Boxill said that the team would not be relying on any particular bowlers because it had the depth.

"You don't need 10 fast bowlers if you have two good ones.

"Good spin will always give trouble regardless of the conditions, and so will fast bowlers. It is a question of how they mix the deliveries."

Of the Weymouth wicket, Boxill said that it was traditionally quick with consistent bounce. He expected it to be good for play since it was covered.

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)