The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force are unbeaten after two matches in the CG United Super50 Cup however stand-in coach Rayad Emrit said the home team can still do better.
The home side will be seeking their third straight win this afternoon when they take on the Leeward Islands Hurricanes in a day/night fixture at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) in Tarouba.
T&T currently lead the table while the third-placed Hurricanes are coming off a hard-fought three-wicket defeat to the Barbados Pride on Friday.
Despite having a few players battling the flu, the defending champions Red Force still managed to complete a comprehensive seven-wicket win over the Windward Islands Volcanoes in their second game of the tournament at the BLCA Friday night.
But as the home team returns to the southern venue today, Emrit is eyeing improvement in a couple of areas.
“The dot-ball percentages is something we spoke about before and it has been bothering us for a while,” he told the Sunday Express.
“It’s improving but we are not where we want to be as yet with that aspect. With our bowling, we can get better. We have not yet reached the 100% mark…There is always room for improvement,” he added.
While he wanted to see improvement across the board, Emrit was still pleased with the victories in the first two matches.
Before Friday’s victory, T&T whipped the Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners in the tournament opener at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground at UWI St Augustine last Tuesday.
Asked about the campaign so far Emrit said: “We had two good results which we wanted. The first game on a slow wicket, the batters on both teams struggled but I thought we batted well to get 194. We could have gotten 220 but we understood the conditions and we backed our bowlers to defend that,” he continued.
“We executed very well with the ball again in that second game and I thought Yannic Cariah getting those three wickets – a run out and two of his own – that changed the momentum. We also wanted one of our top order batters to bat through the innings and that is exactly what Tion (Webster) did,” Emrit added.
Webster struck an unbeaten 95 on Friday to lead the hosts to 186 for three replying to the Volcanoes’ total of 182 all out.
Meanwhile, Red Force debutant Joshua James grabbed two wickets in the back end of the Volcanoes innings to bolster his reputation with the ball.
“We know how explosive he is with the bat and he can bowl a heavy ball, so we will be looking to use him when we can,” Emrit said of the Tobago all-rounder.
“We are trying to play based on conditions, so there are horses for courses but he will definitely be in the squad a lot more,” the Red Force coach noted.
“He had a decent start with the ball but he didn’t get a chance to bat and he is very exciting with the bat as well. It was good to see him hit the ground running and he can get better as he goes along,” Emrit added.
Play is scheduled today start at 1 p.m. Meanwhile from 9 a.m., the Guyana Harpy Eagles will be attempting to get their first win when they take on the Pride at the Queen’s Park Oval.