Logie calls for nat'l T20 championship

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

Jamaica senior cricket team head coach, Gus Logie, is calling for the implementation of a national Twenty20 cricket competition to strengthen the country's chances of winning the regional tournament.

According to Logie, who along with other members of the national T20 team returned in the island yesterday after finishing third at the just-concluded Caribbean T20 tournament, such a competition would provide the players with the experience needed to overcome the demands of the game's newest format.

Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), who defeated England T20 champions Hampshire in the final, won the Caribbean T20, which was being staged for the second year and was hosted jointly by Barbados and Antigua.

"There needs to be a local Twenty20 competition with zones and extensive play so that the players can get used to the format," Logie said.

"The more Twenty20 the players play, the more they will understand and grasp the concepts of T20.

"They will also not be afraid to express themselves with both the bat and the ball, or in the field, as was the case on a couple of occasions during the Caribbean T20 and on a whole Jamaica's T20 cricket would improve."

Logie, who is Trinidadian, added: "Trinidad players, for example, play a lot of Twenty20 cricket inside and outside of organised T20 competitions and under lights and that is why they are at the moment the champions.

"They are much more used to the format and the playing conditions."

Jamaica, who for the second year running entered the Caribbean T20 as one of the favourites, given their cadre of players, finished third after a nine-run win over the Windwards in the Consolation Final.

They had suffered an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of T&T in the semi-finals.

This was a minor improvement over their fourth place finish last year, when they were knocked out in the semi-finals by Barbados and lost to Trinidad in the third place play-off.

Main prize

It is the fourth straight regional T20 tournament that Jamaica has failed to claim the main prize as in 2006 and 2008 the team advanced to the final and semi-finals, respectively, of the now-defunct Stanford Twenty20 Tournament.

The Jamaica Cricket Associa-tion (JCA) staged a national Twenty20 knockout competition in 2009. However, after one season it was scrapped, reportedly due to funding.

Since then the JCA, it is understood, have been in discussions with corporate Jamaica to re-establish the competition, which it says will be bigger and better.

"I know the JCA is aware of this need and have plans to introduce such a local T20 tournament in the incoming year. However, they are finding it difficult to attract sponsors."