Source: Sunday Express
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force head coach Rayad Emrit praised the excellent work of Khary Pierre and Jason Mohammed in the West Indies Championship but urged his players to keep their eyes on the prize with a long season and tougher opponents still ahead of them.
The recently appointed Red Force head coach described the team’s innings and 176-run victory over the Windward Islands Volcanoes at Arnos Vale in St Vincent on Friday as “comprehensive”.
The Red Force dominated the day/night encounter, with Pierre snatching 12 wickets in the match, including a career-best eight for 27 in the second innings when the Volcanoes crashed to 114 all out.
With the bat, Cephas Cooper slammed a maiden first-class century, top-scoring with 117, while Mohammed, playing in his 100th game for the Red Force, struck 103, as they posted 456 in their first innings.
Mohammed also scored 176 in the opening game of the season against the Combines Campuses and Colleges.
Mohammed became only the second Red Force cricketer to play 100 first-class matches for T&T, joining another record-breaker, Imran Khan.
“I thought it was a comprehensive victory,” Emrit said of the team’s performance.
He continued: “The bowling did their part; the batters were excellent. Cephas Cooper is getting his maiden century, he deserved it. He batted well in the first game and unfortunately got out in the 80s, but he showed a lot more maturity in this game, and he batted well again.”
Of Mohammed, Emrit noted:” He shows why he is here, using all of his experience to dominate and lead the batting. A lot of the batters are learning from him. We also had excellent innings from (Amir) Jangoo, who got out in the 80s, and Yannic Cariah was out on 95, but he batted well. They are the guys to carry the batting,” Emrit praised.
Asked about Pierre’s match-winning effort, the T&T coach said: “I can’t praise Khary Pierre enough for leading the attack.
“He is one of the bowlers who, throughout the years gone by, would come and keep things tight for us. But these past two matches, he has ended up with 20-odd wickets, so that is excellent from him. We are just enjoying each other’s success,” Emrit continued.
Despite two dominant wins in two matches, Emrit reminded that the season had just started and said the team had to focus on the next game, which he expects will be a tough one against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Warner Park in St Kitts, starting Wednesday. The Hurricanes beat the Jamaica Scorpions by five wickets yesterday.
“We are taking each game as it comes,” Emrit said. “We are not thinking too far ahead. We are off to a very good start, and we want to continue this for the entire tournament. We have the Leeward Islands next, and they are going to be a tough opponent.”
“But as long as we control and take care of what we can control and do our part, the results will take care of itself. I am happy with where we are at, and hopefully, we can gradually go from strength to strength and keep improving,” he added.