Lee made the difference says team coach WilliamsBy KERN RAMLOCHAN Saturday, October 24 2009
COACH of the Trinidad and Tobago cricket team, Kelvin Williams said yesterday that poor batting accounted for the national team losing the final of the Airtel Champions League Twenty 20 tournament.
Giant-killers TT were beaten by New South Wales Blues by 41 runs at the Rajiv Ghandi Stadium in Hyderabad, India after being tipped as favourites.
“The batting let us down and the frequent loss of wickets was a flaw. I think if we batted the entire overs we would have won the match. Being dismissed after 16 overs shows that the players panicked,” said Williams from India yesterday.
He revealed that the players were distraught knowing that they had a good chance of winning the match.
“The mood in the camp is a bit sombre. Losing a final of this magnitude is always hard to take. Also the manner in which we lost the match after playing brilliant cricket throughout the tournament was hard on the guys,” said a disappointed Williams.
The Trinidad and Tobago coach explained that allrounder Brett Lee was a major difference between the teams.
“Brett Lee came at the end of their innings and put them back in the game. The momentum he gave them with his innings was then transferred to the field and you could see this in his bowling. He started well and then bowled William Perkins with his third ball,” said Williams.
The bowling of the New South Wales was also identified as defining factor in the match.
“They bowled really good. Our players got no width to play shots. Also there was great variation by their bowlers,” said Williams.
Trinidad and Tobago were unbeaten heading into the final and defeated New South Wales in the League Stage by six wickets. Hence, Williams is of the opinion that the best team in the tournament did not win.
“We were outstanding throughout the tournament. However, they were the better team on the day and the pressure took its toll on us and everybody knows the end result of that,” said Williams.
The national team is expected to return home on Monday morning after initially being scheduled to return tomorrow afternoon. Arrangements are being made for the full team to arrive but the players are expected to arrive in batches.
“There have been some problems with the flight arrangement. Right now the management is trying to get seats on Virgin Atlantic and British Airways for the players. It looks like we should arrive on Monday morning and then we will leave Tuesday morning for Guyana to defend our 50-over title,” said Williams.
