Miller talks up Scorpions positives

The Jamaica Scorpions returned to the island yesterday following their exit from the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup on Sunday.

The Jamaicans finished third in Zone ‘A’ on 16 points behind leaders Barbados Pride who amassed 24 points, and the Leeward Islands Hurricanes who both advanced to the semis.

The Scorpions finished outside the top four for the first time since early 2018 when the Windward Volcanoes claimed the title.

Interim assistant coach Nikita Miller, who was travelling with the team for the first time, said the team was behind the eight ball from the first two early losses in the tournament.

Playing catch-up

“We were always playing catch-up when we lost our first two games against Barbados and the CCC (Combined Campuses and Colleges),” Miller said. “We went on a run of four victories but then we lost again to CCC and that put us in a must-win situation against the Leewards and we came up just short in that match. When you leave a competition in the first round, it’s always disappointing.”

Despite the early exit, Miller said there were a lot of positives that came out of the tournament for the Scorpions.

“We are in a good place in terms of our batting,” he said. “For the first time in a long while our batting outshined the bowling. We had about five batsmen getting into the 90s and three centurions and that is a definite plus for the team going forward. We, however, need to be more consistent as a group or we will always be playing catch-up cricket in tournaments because one thing is for sure; we have the talent in the squad.”

Several players have returned from the tournament with niggling injuries and Miller said the coaching staff will be giving the team a week off before going back into training for the upcoming Regional Four-Day championship, which begins in January.