No practice games, no problem - Scorpions banking on experience for Super50

Despite not being able to host any practice games, the Jamaica Scorpions franchise is still upbeat that the team can give a good account of themselves for the upcoming Regional Super 50 tournament which will be played in Antigua & Barbuda from February 4-27, 2021.

CEO of the Jamaica Cricket Association, Courtney Francis, told STAR Sports that due to the unavailability of players and the restrictions brought on by the pandemic, the franchise had decided to forgo it's practice games and work with the core group of contracted senior West Indies players in the new year.

Five Jamaican players, Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cottrell, Brandon King, Rovman Powell and Oshane Thomas, had recently been involved with the West Indies T20 team along with Jermaine Blackwood and John Campbell in the Test squad on the tour of New Zealand, several contracted Scorpion players were also recently involved in the US Open T20 Cup in Florida.

14-day quarantine

Francis added that most of the players would not have been available for practice games until after their 14-day quarantine period which would end the first week of January.

"The preparations are in the harness where white-ball cricket is concerned because we have been having some simulation practice games with some squad members here. Our specialist players who went to New Zealand and those that went to the US Open Cup should complete their 14-day quarantine period by January 4, after which everyone will be back in full practice sessions," said Francis.

Perennial contenders Barbados along with Trinidad & Tobago have had a series of squad practice games for the past couple of weeks with the Windwards franchise also having inter-squad matches.

Francis, however, added that head coach Andre Coley will also be back in the fold, having worked in New Zealand with the West Indies senior team. Come January, Francis mentioned that the full squad would be fine-tuning their preparations for the February tournament.

"We are optimistic based on the contracted players, both West Indies and the franchise think we should be able to put a team together that can compete," added Francis.

Cricket West Indies is expected to release the full fixture list in the coming weeks.