SPORTS
Come on Beckles
The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force are not leaving it in the hands of another team as they look for a win over the Windward Islands Volcanoes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on Saturday to secure a place in the semi-finals of the CG United Super50 Cup. The match ends at 14:00.
The Red Force lead Zone A with 14 points after three wins in five games. The Red Force’s only loss was a three-run loss to the Guyana Harpy Eagles and the next match ended in a draw.
The Red Force could miss out on a semi-final spot with a loss as the Harpy Eagles and Volcanoes are both on 12 points. A team gets four points for a win and two points for a draw.
Combined Campuses and Colleges have had a difficult campaign with no wins in their five games and are bottom of Zone A.
Red Force coach David Furlonge does not want his players to count on other results.
Speaking on Friday, Furlonge said: “You always want to be the masters of our destiny. We don’t want to depend on anyone else. We can’t hope for something else to go our way, we have to make it happen for us. The guys are all up for it.”
The Red Force defeated the Harpy Eagles by six wickets in their last match at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair on Wednesday.
At one stage, the Red Force were 88/4 chasing 183 to win. Jyd Goolie (58) and captain Nicholas Pooran (56) both scored unbeaten half-centuries to guide the Red Force to victory.
Red Force batsmen gave their wickets against Harpy Eagles. Three batsmen were caught and after a mix-up between Pooran and Jason Mohammed, the latter was run out.
Discussing shot selection, Furlonge said: “We always talk about soft dismissals. It’s not the first time because if you go through all our innings, we’ve been batting well, we haven’t lost too many wickets but the wickets…soft dismissals.”
At Queen’s Park Oval on Wednesday, Pooran said he doesn’t want his players to let teams off the hook.
“It’s just being clinical when we have the opportunity to shut teams down, shut them down (and) take advantage of it.”
The Harpy Eagles were 97/8 but still managed to score 182.
Pooran is happy with the way his players are competing. “Having lost one game in the tournament so far in the tournament, I can’t blame the boys. I just think we’ve got to keep doing what we’ve been doing, which is just keep focusing on ourselves as individuals, how we can have an impact on the game (and) take the opportunity and perform for the team.”
Pooran, who has struggled for form while playing for the West Indies in recent months, is happy to be back in the middle of the competition.
“Of course I feel very good. Having struggled for the last couple of months in terms of runs, it’s good to be in the middle scoring some runs. I’ve had a few no outs and it’s good to go all the way today (Wednesday).
