Reifer wants consistency from Tallawahs
Published:Tuesday | September 7, 2021 | 12:09 AMLennox Aldred/Gleaner Writer
JAMAICA TALLAWAHS coach, Floyd Reifer, is urging his team to be more consistent and execute the plans when they face the Trinbago Knight Riders in their return Caribbean Premier League cricket match at Warner Park in St Kitts, starting at 9 a.m. (Jamaica time) today.
The Tallawahs are coming off a seven-wicket loss to the Knight Riders, condemning the Jamaican franchise to their third defeat in five games, with five preliminary-round games remaining.
Reifer and his team were sitting pretty in second place at one stage. However, a string of losses sees the team now lying second from bottom in the six-team tournament with four points.
“In terms of the points standings, I still think it is very wide open. A lot of teams are close with each other in terms of points and I think the net run rate will have an important part to play in this competition,” said Reifer.
Poor top-order batting
Once again, the team’s batting will come under the microscope, as the top half failed to negotiate the effectiveness of the Trinidad seamer Ravi Rampaul, and spinner Akeal Hosein. The poor top-order batting display against the Knight Riders was only rescued by a fighting half-century from Carlos Brathwaite and some good lower-order batting from Imad Wasim and Andre Russell. However, Reifer knows the batting unit will have to cope better against the Knight Riders’ potent attack.
“Consistency is important, especially as a batting unit. I believe in batting synergy. We have had a couple of good games and bad games as well. Whatever happened in the past, we are looking forward to the next five games,” said Reifer.
Since their opening batsman and wicketkeeper, Chadwick Walton, picked up a hamstring injury, the team has lost some momentum in the top order and they may have to do without Walton for today’s contest.
Reifer said that Kennar Lewis may still have to don the gloves, or Shamarh Brooks.
With that said, the Barbadian still believes the team has a good chance of putting a string of good performances together, starting with today’s encounter.
“It’s all about going out there now and having a good second half and building the momentum at the right time. Once you get that momentum flowing into the semi-finals and the finals, then the team that does that will have a better opportunity of winning,” added Reifer.