Reifer's 'Mission'

The man who propelled Barbados to the final of this year's Red Stripe Bowl believes the team is on a mission. And he took the lead role yesterday.

Floyd Reifer came to the pitch in the semifinal at the Kaiser ground in Jamaica yesterday, with Barbados in deep trouble on 24 for three, after surprisingly deciding to bat after winning the toss against Trinidad and Tobago.

The former West Indies player then took the match in his hands, combining patience and superb strokeplay to compile an unbeaten 104, his maiden ton in regional limited overs play.

We are here on a mission. Our mission is to win and at 24 for three, someone had to do it, and I said I'm the one. I said my prayers and went on to do the job, Reifer said after his memorable unbeaten century.

The manager talked about partnerships at the team meeting. We've been stressing that for the whole tournament. The first thing we had to do was look for a partnership and go from there, added the 29-year-old left-hander.

Team coach Hendy Springer spoke highly of the victory, which was Barbados' seventh on the trot against Trinidad and Tobago at this level.

This was a good win for Barbados. We came here this morning to win, Springer said.

We had a good, long talk last night to the guys about tactics, opposition, keeping pressure in place.

Everybody contributed. The majority of the guys played their role, which is what we want to do.

Reifer is one of those experienced Barbadian batsmen who has been targeted for his inconsistency in recent seasons, but no one could fault him yesterday for anything.

With steadfast determination, he diligently dug Barbados out of a deep hole with a maiden century. If he has ever batted better at this level, it would have been on another planet.

He never once lost his cool or attempted anything silly and when he arrived at his first century for Barbados since 1997, his emotions suggested that a burden on his shoulders had been lifted. Reifer waved his bat with the fury of heavyweight boxer, banged his chest in the area where the Barbados flag was printed on his shirt, punched the air and looked to the heavens.