Davis: Tougher matches ahead for Red Force

JELANI BECKLES

FORMER TT and West Indies batsman Bryan Davis said the TT Red Force must not get complacent as the tough part of the Regional Super50 tournament is still in front of them.

After suffering a crushing 171-run defeat to Barbados Pride in its opening match on Tuesday, the Red Force recorded convincing back-to-back wins. On Thursday, Red Force crushed Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC) Marooners by nine wickets, then defeated Hampshire by 75 runs on Saturday.

Davis believes CCC and Hampshire are two of the weaker teams in the tournament and Red Force should not get carried away by the victories. He also praised Sunil Narine as the spinner has already taken 10 wickets in the tournament.

Davis said, “Sunil Narine is on the team that is one of the reasons (we won those two matches), and the other reason is that they played against two of the weaker teams. Everybody beat Hampshire so far and CCC is never known for their strengths. The only strong team we played against is Barbados and we were beaten badly, out of sight. I think it is a little premature now at this stage to discuss (the performance). I am happy for them that they’re winning, but you can’t read too much into what cricket they played.”

The Red Force will play Windward Islands Volcanoes today at Kensington Oval in Barbados from 9 am. Davis believes Windward Islands and Barbados will be the judge of how good the Red Force are.

Opener Evin Lewis has been leading the batting for Red Force as he has already scored two half centuries. Davis said, “I always think that Evin is a very good player. It is nice to see him there...he has come a long way over the last year or so.”

Davis added that TT must go into every match thinking it is a difficult contest. “You have to treat every game as a tough game. You go in there to win. You must feel good because you won two games, but any good thinking cricketer will know that those two games were not really strong teams.”