Joshua Da Silva: Red Force not focused on title yet

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force captain Joshua Da Silva has said the team would like to break their drought in the West Indies Four-Day Championship tournament, but will not think too far ahead, as there is still a lot of cricket to be played in the campaign.

The second-placed Red Force are off to a promising start, with two wins and one draw after three rounds of action. The TT batsmen have been inconsistent over the past few seasons, but not this year.

Four rounds still remain, with Red Force yet to face leaders and defending champions Guyana Harpy Eagles and the consistent Barbados Pride.

Red Force have not won a four-day title since 2006, but the TT skipper said ending the title drought is not the focus this early in the campaign.

Speaking to regional journalists on Microsoft Teams on February 24, Da Silva said, “Every year we talk about it and keep saying it has been 18 years, 19 years and now 20 years. It is always in the back of our minds, but this year as a group we have decided that we are just going to take it game by game.

“Yes, we are off to a great start, but we still have some tough games coming up. We play (West Indies) Academy next and then Barbados, so for us it is just taking it one by one, trying to get a win and then get another win. Hopefully it works for us this year.”

Da Silva has been in form, cracking two hundreds in one match in the last round against Leeward Islands Hurricanes.

He said, “We want to score runs all the time, but it does not happen all the time. Sometimes you go through patches where things don’t go your way or something goes wrong, and then sometimes you just have to make use of the purple patch you have.

“The preparation has been pretty much the same...it was a good surface to bat on (against Hurricanes at Warner Park) and I just tried to make use of the conditions.”

The experienced Jason Mohammed has led the way with the bat for Red Force, scoring 483 runs, including two centuries and one double century. Left-arm spinner Khary Pierre has snatched 26 wickets. Mohammed and Pierre both lead their respective categories.

Speaking about the two, Da Silva said, “We’ve had a lot of good performances, but those two definitely stand out. Khary has been exceptional over the past few years: he just has not been rewarded with the wickets...Jason, with his experience, with his knowledge of the game, has come to the party once again for us, and hopefully he continues that good form and he guides the youngsters, myself included. It is just motivating all of us to do more and score more runs.”

WI Championship standings

• Guyana Harpy Eagles (57.6 pts)
• TT Red Force (55.4 pts)
• Leewards Hurricanes (50.8 pts)
• Barbados Pride (50 pts)
• Jamaica Scorpions (33.3 pts)
• Windwards Volcanoes (16.8 pts)
• CCC (15.2 pts)
• WI Academy (12.8 pts)