Bridgetown, Barbados — Trinidad and Tobago spinner Sunil Narine has told the Barbados batsmen not to focus their attention on him during this weekend’s third round Regional 4 Day match at Kensington Oval.
Sunil Narine. Photo: Johnny Jno Baptiste
Narine had the amazing figures of 13 wickets for 39 runs in the opening match against Combined Campuses & Colleges and has caught the eye. He warned the Bajans that Trinidad and Tobago have other match-winners who are capable of doing the job as they look for their second win of the season. Narine was speaking after Wednesday’s afternoon training session at Kensington Oval, which was cut short by a heavy shower.
Trinidad and Tobago had a bye in the second round and will look for their second victory. Barbados had a bye in the first round. They lost their opening match to Jamaica at Sabina Park last weekend and will be look to rebound in front their home supporters.
“I hope the Barbados batsmen don’t focus too much on me. We have more than one bowler in our side. We have a good bowling attack and everyone who is picked as a bowler can do the job for T&T. We have the fast bowlers Shannon Gabriel and Rayad Emrit, who have done a very good job before. I don’t think they (Barbados) should focus on me. I’m new on the scene and every day won’t be my day so whoever is having a good day we will support him to do the job that is required,” said Narine.
“The 13 wickets I got that’s gone now. That was two weeks ago. This is a different kind of pitch and different opponents altogether so I know I have to re-focus and come with a different kind of plan. The pitch here at Kensington is usual bouncy so the close-in fielders at bat-pad and slip could come into play.”
The Barbados batting line-up for this weekend’s match is likely to feature three left-handers – Omar Phillips, Ryan Hinds and Jonathan Carter – in the top five. Narine said this would not disrupt his plan of attack.
“I enjoy bowling to left-handers and I try to make them play at every ball. My style of bowling, I try to be accurate and attack the stumps. My job will require that I stay focus and just do the job that the captain calls on me to perform.”