ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Head coach Andre Coley has urged West Indies Academy to repeat the good things they executed in last week’s shock victory over Team Headley when they meet Team Weekes in the second game of the Headley Weekes Tri-Series.
The inexperienced Academy side, led by all-rounder Nyeem Young, trounced Team Headley by seven wickets at Coolidge Cricket Ground and will now turn their attention to Team Weekes at the same venue starting here Wednesday.
“Having gotten early wickets in the first innings [against Team Headley], we were able to follow that up in the second innings and restrict them to an even lower total, and on the back of that, win the game,” Coley said ahead of the four-day first-class match.
“Some of those things are what we want to transfer into game two. If you think about winning a series, you have to be able to repeat performances.
“Yes, it’s a slightly different team in this game coming up, but the disciplines remain the same, and if we are able at the end of both matches to say – based on the plans that we had – we were able to tick them, because of the processes we went through and the discipline that we showed, then they would take a lot out of it, other than the win.”
He added: “Obviously, we want to play to win, but we want to encourage and funnel players down the path of what they need to do to achieve a goal and get them to buy into processes that are important to them.”
WI Academy boasted development players with precious little or no first-class experience but produced telling all-around performances to earn themselves an impressive victory within three days.
They reduced Team Headley to 59 for five on the first morning before bowling them out for 259 and then piled up 323 in reply behind Kevlon Anderon’s magnificent 153.
Brilliant execution from seamers Young and Kelvin Pitman, who claimed three-wicket hauls, sent Team Headley to a paltry 122 all out in their second innings.
Coley said fight, discipline, and application were critical to WI Academy’s success.
“We showed fight throughout the game. In the first innings, when we bowled, we were very disciplined. We were disciplined in how we bowled, and we caught well, and we were able to put Team Headley under pressure,” Coley explained.
“When we went to bat, we lost two early wickets, and the application we showed to dig ourselves out of that hole [was impressive].
“Kevlon’s marathon innings along with the partnerships – along the way, he had crucial partnerships – took us past Team Headley’s score and gave us a reasonable lead of 60-plus.”
Team Weekes will be led by Alick Athanaze and include Test players Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Devon Thomas, Raymon Reifer, and Veerasammy Permaul.
Athanaze, 24, said he was looking forward to renewing old acquaintances.
“I knew most of them (WI Academy). It’s been a couple of years, so I assumed they’ve developed their game,” he said.
“But it’s always good to reunite with old friends, so on the best of information we had on them before, we would like to attack them in their weak areas to see how things are still going.”
SQUADS:
WI ACADEMY – Nyeem Young (captain), Kevlon Anderson, Ackeem Auguste, Joshua Bishop, Teddy Bishop, McKenny Clarke, Rivaldo Clarke, Joshua James, Johann Layne, Kirk McKenzie, Ashmead Nedd, Kelvin Pitman, Keagan Simmons, Ramon Simmonds, Kevin Wickham.
TEAM WEEKES – Alick Athanaze (captain), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Keacy Carty, Dominic Drakes, Jahmar Hamilton, Brandon King, Jair McAllister, Zachary McCaskie, Veerasammy Permaul, Raymon, Reifer, Kevin Sinclair, Nial Smith, Devon Thomas.
and then 