BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – HEAD COACH of the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots Eric Simons is content after the new franchise recorded its first victory, establishing momentum before heading into a series of home game at Warner Park starting today (Jun. 30) against the Jamaica Tallawahs.
Simons, at a press conference yesterday, indicated the importance of the team’s first win against defending champions Barbados Tridents on Saturday last.
“Any win is important when you only have 10 games to establish yourselves. We are a new team and we try to play a brand of cricket, and the quicker we learn and the quicker we understand our team the better. So when we start to produce results it is really good. I think we played very well; we were very happy with the things we did.”
Simons was asked if any changes would be considered for today’s game, to which he said might be decided before the game commences.
“I obviously can’t tell you now. Every player would be given consideration. Conditions are important! We do move around to different grounds, different conditions, different wind situation, so one has to take all those into consideration. Once we have done our practice today, we will sit down and decide.”
Patriots captain Marlon Samuels commented on the importance of the home support.
“It is very important for the crowd to come out and support not just the Patriots, but make the tournament continue to be a wonderful tournament.”
He also stressed the importance of winning at home.
“The expectation is to win as much and be consistently. We not going to be overconfident, we just going to take it in stride, step by step.”
Samuels also indicated that he has a personal goal of bringing a title to St. Kitts and Nevis, as well as ensuring that the young cricketers in the team make the next step.
Also speaking at the press conference was Tallawahs opening batsman Chadwick Walton who was questioned about Chris Gayle’s influence on the team.
“Chris is one of the better T20 players in the World, so he inspires the team a lot. And when Chris plays like that, I don’t see many teams that can beat us. Coming back here in St. Kitts, we are trying to get a fresh start. It is a new surface, it is a different game and different opposition.”
He was also asked what if Gayle fell cheaply in the game today.
“We play around Chris but we have other match winners in the team. We have Andre Russel, Mahela Jaywardene, we have Chris Lynn and myself who could win the game on any given day.”
The Patriots will make their home debut at Warner Park from 6:00 p.m.
