Coaching staff lauds older, wiser double-winning Jamaica U19 team

The euphoria can still be felt in and around Jamaica cricket, as the under-19 team recently returned from St. Vincent and the Grenadines after copping the double at the recently concluded West Indies Rising Stars tournament.

It has been 10 years since Jamaica last won a regional youth tournament, and this time they brought home not one, but two trophies having secured the 50-overs title then followed that up with the three-day trophy after defeating Barbados in the final.

An elated coach Terrence Corke spoke glowingly about his team, who before they left Jamaica, had title-winning aspirations.

Corked mentioned that the mental side of the game was crucial as he celebrated the team’s title success.

“It’s a feeling I can’t describe. I’m totally elated,” said Corke. “We have not won this in more than 10 years so it’s good to get the double now. The last time we won the double was 2010 and now we’re winning it away from home. That’s a plus for us.”

Corke emphasised that having coach Gibbs Williams, who acted as both manager and coach at the tournament, helped the team tremendously as the extra help proved crucial over the lengthy tournament.

TEAM’S PRIORITY

Williams highlighted that winning the double was a bonus, as the team’s priority was the three-day championship.

“Our aim was to take home the three-day championship as we know we had the quality for the longer version. To start off the tournament with the one-dayers also helped us to win the three-day tournament because we knew we had a quality one-day unit and winning that tournament gave us the momentum and the boost to get the double,” Williams said.

Williams added that the team’s success could be attributed to the fact that a number of the players got a taste of regional cricket last year, and it was a more mature unit that came up trumps this time around.

“Last year we finished fourth and a number of these boys were here. We knew that they would have been one year older and one year wiser and the preparation that we put in enhanced our chances,” he said.