Coach Samuels laments 'weak' one-day culture

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

Robert Samuels, coach of Jamaica's Under-19 team, says a weak national limited-overs culture could be highlighted as one of the reasons why the team failed to cop the coveted double during the just-concluded West Indies Cricket Board Under-19 tournament in Guyana.

According to Samuels, unlike other regional countries who have been increasing the number of national 50-overs and Twenty20 competitions, Jamaica has been doing the opposite with no national Twenty20 competition last season, and this year's 50-overs and Twenty20 competitions in doubt.

"Limited-overs cricket, be it 50 or 20 overs, has become more scientific, as it relates to the planning and execution by teams and players, and due to a lack of focus and attention on these formats nationally we are finding it difficult to cope," said Samuels who, along with members of the Under-19 team, returned home yesterday.

"It's a travesty and one that we, the management of various national teams, need to sit down with the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) and discuss, especially given the fact that limited-overs tournaments around the region, and across the world, are the most lucrative of all tournaments," he added.

The JCA, which recently elected former national representative Lyndel Wright as president, failed to stage a national Twenty20 competition, due to a reported lack of funds.

This year, with funds again being a problem, the association, which is three months old, has failed to put on a 50-overs tournament, which traditionally has been held between the summer months of June and August.

It also seems likely that for the second season running there will be no Twenty20 competition, as with just a few weeks to go before the official end of the 2010-2011 season there has been no word yet on the staging of this the shortest form of the game.

'Step up to the plate'

The Jamaica cricket season runs concurrently with the WICB's, which starts in September and ends in August the following year.

Over past five years, Jamaica, the reigning four-time four-day champions, have competed in five regional 50-overs tournaments, winning one, and five regional Twenty20 tournaments, all of which they have lost.

"Limited-overs cricket is an important format and, simply put, Jamaica need to step up to the plate," Samuels added.

Meanwhile, Wavell Hinds, manager of the Under-19 team, believes that adequate and quality preparation leading into the three-day version of the tournament were some of the reasons that resulted in Jamaica reclaiming the title from Trinidad and Tobago.

Barbados, who ended with five wins from as many games, won the 50-overs equivalent.

"Hats off to the coaching staff, including physical trainer David Bernard Sr, who did a very good job in getting the players mentally and physically ready for the start of the tournament," said Hinds.

"This foundation allowed the team to get a good start by winning the first match, and although we had a hiccup midway when we lost first innings to Barbados, we returned to bowl them out for 63 in the second innings and win the match, and we were able to hold our composure thereafter."

Meanwhile, three members of the team, opener John Campbell, leg-spinner and captain Donovan Nelson, and hard-hitting middle-order batsman, Brian Gayle, who made a century in Jamaica's final match of the 50-overs tournament, have been selected to the West Indies Under-19 squad which will shortly begin preparation for next year's ICC Youth World Cup.