Wicketkeeper-batsman, Devon “Booby” Thomas, said he was disappointed over a decision by coaches Kenneth “Flipper” Benjamin and John Archibald to resign just before the start of the cricket association’s Tri20 Tournament.
The resignations were tendered despite a decision by the ABCA to keep Mentore as captain with Benjamin indicating that his decision came because it was evident that the association had no confidence in his ability to make such a decision.
“The only problem I have is with the two coaches because they make it look as if they have something against me. I found it strange I was not made the captain but at the end of the day you have to be realistic but the only thing, as I said, I felt a way [funny] with the two coaches, especially that Archibald and myself have things in common because he is from Bethesda, to see he pulled out. At the end of the day, I feel hurt,” he said.
Both coaches reportedly tendered their resignations on the morning of the team’s opening match following attempts by the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA) to replace Kerry Mentore as captain of the Master Blasters with Thomas.
Thomas said he had no issues with Mentore taking the lead, adding he was careful not to get too involved at times.
“We worked together but sometimes I gave him his space because it looks like I am taking over and sometimes I feel bad saying that I am changing the field sometimes and even telling him to change the bowlers in terms of which bowlers to use but at the end of the day we worked good,” he said.
Asked what he thought was the team’s downfall in this year’s tournament, Thomas said they failed in all departments but the batting should have been much better.
“We bat 70 or more dot balls [balls without scoring] and we made 137 so you can say that we scored off eight overs but that’s too many dot balls in a T20 match. If we had eliminated some of those dot balls then we would have scored about 160 which would have been a challenging total [for Guyana]. If you look at how Guyana batted in getting a lot of singles and waited for the bad balls to come but we were different,” the all-rounder said.
Guyana and Jamaica will clash in the finals of the tournament at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on Saturday [today] starting at 7.00 p.m. Admission is $25.
Thomas Opens Up Following Tri20 Exit
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