IT’S true that after Chris Gayle’s heroics, bad bowling and scratchy fielding contributed to Jamaica’s loss in the Twenty20 play-off against Guyana.

However, in my view, an equally fundamental reason was a flawed mindset which triggered a poor tactical approach.

Though the danger posed by Christopher Barnwell in Twenty20 cricket is well established, Tamar Lambert and his men seemed more intent on trying to prevent boundaries than in getting him out.

They paid the price. Under no pressure, the 26-year-old Barnwell, who has burnt Jamaica in this form of cricket in the past, gathered easy singles at will and often converted ones into twos. Furthermore, such is his ability in cricket’s shortest format he was still able to pierce and clear the field for boundaries.

Too late, it dawned on the Jamaicans that in good conditions, and with sensible batting, nine an over is quite doable in Twenty20 cricket. We must concede, of course, that the Jamaicans were hampered by a wet ball (as were Guyana’s bowlers) and the unfortunate injury to Krishmar Santokie.

For me, the use of the highly talented Andre Russell by Jamaica’s tacticians also reflected a weak mindset. As a batsman, the 24-year-old Russell is far more than just a hitter. In my view, he has the potential to become a premier batsman in the Jamaican line-up, regardless of the format. Russell should be asked to take responsibility, be made to understand that he has an obligation to himself and to his country to bat to his potential, and he should have been batting at number three in the recent tournament. Instead, he came to the wicket with overs running out on most occasions.

I strongly believe that if he is handled correctly and does the required work, Russell will be remembered far more for his batting than his undoubtedly useful seam bowling.

In contrast to Jamaica, Guyana showed wisdom in their use of resources by promoting Barnwell to bat at number three, midway the tournament. He repaid his captain’s faith big time.

After their emotional high on conquering Jamaica, it was always going to be difficult for the Guyanese to get it altogether again in less than 24 hours to challenge powerful, confident Trinidad and Tobago.

And so it proved.

All that said, congrats are due to T&T for proving once again they are head and shoulders above the rest in regional Twenty20. Let’s see how they do in the upcoming four-day and 50/50 formats.

The pitches, from slower and lower in Port of Spain to more bounce and pace in St Lucia, added to the tournament’s intrigue — presenting varying challenges to batsmen and bowlers.

Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the Twenty20 was the performance of a cluster of young fast bowlers. Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Carlos Braithwaite, left armer Delorn Johnson, Kevin McLean and that awesomely talented Guyanese 20-year-old Ronsford Beaton showed why some of us who have been paying attention retain strong hopes for West Indies cricket.

Pleasingly, in an era when much has been said about the relatively short stature of West Indian pace men, Holder, Johnson and Brathwaite are all six-and-a-half feet tall, while Gabriel and Beaton are far north of six feet.

Another six-footer, Jamaica’s powerful left-armer Sheldon Cotterrell, often lacked consistency in terms of length, but he has searing pace. All being well, his time at the Sagicor High Performance Centre should help to round him out.

My hope is that Holder will be allowed to test the waters at international level on the upcoming limited-overs tour of Australia. I was extremely disappointed that he wasn’t given a chance in a couple of limited overs games on the recent trip to Bangladesh. This after being called in as replacement for Tino Best.

The latter, fit again, is bowling as well as he has ever bowled, but he and Fidel Edwards are now past 30 and the injury-prone Ravi Rampaul clearly needs very careful handling. It is full time to see how some of the younger, talented ones fare at the highest level.