Furlonge: Red Force treating Pride clash like a final

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force cricket team coach David Furlonge says his team will be approaching their last 2023 CG United Regional Super50 preliminary match against the Barbados Pride like a final.

Furlonge says the home team will take no prisoners in the encounter which bowls off from 1 pm on Sunday at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) in Tarouba. Red Force are second on the table with 40 points, while Barbados are third with 37 points. Leeward Islands Hurricanes lead the eight-team table with 44 points, but their final group match against the Combined Campuses and Colleges was abandoned on Saturday without a ball being bowled at The University of the West Indies (UWI) SPEC ground in St Augustine.

Speaking with Newsday on Saturday, Furlonge says the no-result gives both TT and Barbados the chance to finish atop the group going into the semi-finals.

"We are treating (the game against Barbados) like a final. We want to finish in that top spot," Furlonge said. "Barbados are also right behind us (on the standings), so whoever wins our game could end up topping the group. It's a very important game for us."

In the build-up to Red Force's game against defending champions Jamaica Scorpions on Thursday, Furlonge asked his bowlers to be more fruitful in the first power play and limit the opposition from getting a brisk start. The match was eventually abandoned midway through the contest, but the hosts did well to limit Jamaica to a score of 213 for nine in 48 overs.

Furlonge said his bowlers carried out the plans perfectly.

"We executed our (bowling) plans really well in the last game. We bowled well in the first ten overs and we were able to restrict Jamaica to 213.

"That was very good. I think our bowlers did really well, especially in the first ten overs. Akeal Hosein and Shannon Gabriel did really well."

Hosein had figures of three for 34. His spin partner Sunil Narine had excellent figures of three 30. The bustling Gabriel and Yannic Cariah, who leads the Red Force bowling attack with 15 wickets in the tournament, took a wicket apiece.

Furlonge says his team's spin-threat is their key to winning the tournament and he is pleased with the work of the mystery-spinner Narine, who has taken 12 wickets to go along with timely cameos with the bat.

"Sunil has been consistently quiet with the ball. He has been bowling and getting a few wickets but his (economy) rate is really low. All our players have been doing well. Once you have players like Sunil and Akeal – once they do well – they inspire the rest of the team."

Barbados have won three of their six matches thus far, to go along with two losses and a no-result. Allrounder Roston Chase is joint-third on the bowling charts with 13 scalps. Barbados also have two centurions – Kyle Mayers and Zachary McCaskie.

Referring to Barbados as a "top-line" team, Furlonge said: "I think (Barbados Pride) have a good squad. They have Test players and West Indies white-ball players in their team as well.

"I think it will be a good game because we have players of that class in our team also. I think the team that plays better on the day will come out victorious."

Furlonge says the BLCA pitch has something to offer to both batsmen and bowlers, but he hopes his spinners can exploit the turn on offer.

"This will be our third game (at BLCA). It's a good wicket for batting. The wicket is a little slow.

"Watching a couple of games, you're seeing the ball turning on the wicket which suits us because spin is our strength."

In their two 2023 Super50 matches at the BLCA, Red Force got victories over the Hurricanes and the Guyana Harpy Eagles – restricting the opposition to under 200 runs on both occasions.

In their final group match on Sunday, Furlonge and Red Force will be hoping for more of the same against Barbados Pride as they eye top spot in the prelims.