Miller urges Jamaica batsmen to target bonus points in 4-day pursuit
AFTER losing out in the Nagico Super50 cricket tournament, Jamaica will turn their attention to the Regional Four-day competition, which resumes on February 6.
Jamaica, who are second in the points standing with 50 points, will host leaders Guyana (57 points) at Sabina Park in Kingston.
Barbados are third with 44 points, while Windward Islands (26), Trinidad & Tobago (24) and Leeward Islands (10) complete the rest of the table.
Tamar Lambert, the regular four-day skipper, is nursing a knee injury, but is expected to lead Jamaica.
Slow left-arm orthodox bowler Nikita Miller, who captained the 50-over team, will be unavailable for Jamaica after being called to fill the gap left by off-spinner Sunil Narine’s withdrawal from the West Indies World Cup squad. Miller urged the Jamaican batsmen to capitalise on getting more bonus points for the team.
“One of the reasons they [Guyana] are leading us is because the bonus points they’ve picked up with their batting. We need to improve that aspect and hopefully we can catch them,” the spinner said.
“It is very important to do well against Guyana because what we don’t want is a team to be running away in the points standings.”
Miller, 32, said he noticed positive signs from the batsmen during the Super50 format and is hoping some of that good form is brought over into the four-day tournament.
“We’ve been bowling well so we just need to put the batting together. If we can get the batting sorted … we were struggling before the start of the 50-overs competition and we showed fight in the tournament. It augurs well for us,” he said.
The West Indies spinner insisted that the onus is on the batsmen to keep improving under head coach Junior Bennett and help Jamaica to yet another four-day title.
“We can only get better with some good preparation. The batsmen have to keep working hard. Based on what I’ve heard, the players who weren’t in the 50-over team have been putting in a lot of work and that’s very good,” Miller said.
Jamaica have been the most successful regional team in the longer format over the last decade, winning six champions’ trophies.
–Sanjay Myers
