The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force are top of the West Indies Four-Day Championship. But the camp will spend an anxious two weeks, monitoring the fitness of Jason Mohammed.
Veteran Mohammed has been the outstanding batter so far in the competition, and a key contributor to the Red Force’s two victories and first innings points success in their three matches, with 483 runs and three centuries in as many innings.
However, head coach Rayad Emrit has confirmed that Mohammed picked up what he described as a “slight” groin injury in the team’s last match against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes which ended in a draw, Saturday, in St Kitts.
Emrit said Mohammed was being monitored. “We’re hoping it’s nothing too serious, and hopefully he can get fit for the next match which is in two weeks’ time.”
The Red Force coach added that leg-spinner Yannic Cariah had been bothered by a stiff neck and a sore shoulder in the Hurricanes match, which forced him to retire hurt in the team’s first innings. “We are monitoring him as well,” Emrit said.
Those injury concerns aside, Emrit said he Red Force was “in a good place” at virtually the halfway stage of the competition. The men will be on a break while the West Indies Women’s Championship takes place from next Monday.
“All in all, really, really happy with the team’s performance thus far and hopefully we can take this to another level,” Emrit told the Express. But he stressed, “we can improve in our fielding, our catching. We need a bit of improvement in that.”
Fielding disappoints
The Red Force coach was particularly unhappy with the display in the field against the Hurricanes. “We let ourselves down really, really badly in the field by not holding on to our catches,” he noted.
“We put down about six or seven chances and I think if we had held on to those chances, it might have been a different result; we may have gotten into the batting line-up a bit earlier, and probably with some more time, could have pushed for a different result.”
In reply to the Red Force’s 529 for five declared, the Hurricanes were dismissed for 433 on the fourth and final day.
However, those blemishes aside, Emrit said he saw many good things from his players with both bat and ball.
“Our batting continued to be consistent, Amir Jangoo getting 60, our captain Joshua Da Silva with 150 (152) and Jason Mohammed, our most consistent batter for the season thus far, scoring a double hundred (204 not out). Very good contributions on a very placid wicket, probably the best wicket we’ve played on so far in this tournament.”
Praise for skipper, spinners
Emrit said further about Da Silva: “It is good to see him coming back into the team; didn’t get any runs in the first game and scoring back-to-back centuries…he’s leading from the front and he shows his maturity and the commitment playing for Trinidad and Tobago and his experience on the international level, bringing it back down to this level.”
The coach also admired the work that his spinners Khary Pierre and Cariah did on the tame Warner Park pitch.
He described Pierre’s form as “excellent,” the slow left-armer picking up his third haul of five wickets or more in an innings this season against the Hurricanes to take his tally so far to a tournament-leading 26.
However, Emrit also praised leg-spinner Cariah who took five for 103, saying he was, “probably the most difficult bowler to play on that pitch; a lot of bounce and turn, picking up five wickets as well.”
Emrit added: “It’s good signs for us that our bowlers on a sort of wicket like this could still pick up ten wickets and put batters under pressure.”
While Emrit will be glad for the break, in order for Mohammed and Cariah to get back to full fitness, he added: “We wanted to continue with the momentum that we have…But hopefully we can go back, get the rest that is needed, and come back fresh for the next two rounds which are away again.”
The Red Force will resume against the West Indies Academy in Antigua from March 5 and then travel to Barbados to face the Pride from March 12. Trinidad Express
