Palmer remains upbeat despite losing start
THOUGH disappointed his tenure as captain of the Jamaica Scorpions got off to a losing start, Paul Palmer says he remains motivated for the challenges ahead this season.
The Junior Bennett-coached Scorpions, who struggled with the bat in both innings, were comprehensively beaten by 10 wickets at the hands of hosts Barbados Pride at Kensington Oval in the Professional Cricket League match, which ended on Monday.
“Yes, I’m disappointed [to lose my first game as captain], of course. It was the first game of the tournament as well and you would want to come out on top. That didn’t happen and we have to move on from here,” Palmer told the Jamaica Observer after the team returned to the island on Tuesday.
Another source of disappointment for the rookie skipper was his failure with the bat, only getting scores of zero and six against the Pride.
“As a batsman you’d want to contribute, you’d want to make runs for the team and that didn’t work out.”
Their next outing will be a home fixture against Windward Islands Volcanoes at Sabina Park, beginning tomorrow.
The 23-year-old left-handed opener, a former national youth captain, has turned his attention to that clash.
“We’ve got to train hard and keep improving because in life when you fall down you have to pick up yourself. I have to remain strong as a young captain and know it’s a learning curve and a learning process. Failing is a part of growth and I have to accept and move on,” he said.
Palmer said he has received the backing of players, including the senior members of the squad.
“The players have encouraged me and they supported me throughout the four days of cricket wonderfully. They have continued after and I got a bit of advice from the senior players as well,” he said.
One of those experienced members, the slow left-arm orthodox bowler Nikita Miller, lamented the batting performance against Barbados Pride, and stressed that there must be improvement if the threat from the Volcanoes is to be countered.
“It’s basically the same problem we’ve been having over the years. We’re not putting on big totals on the board when we bat. We have some work to do and we definitely have to come into this game and put on a better show batting-wise,” said the 33-year-old spinner.
“The Windwards are coming off a loss as well. We have to try and restrict them to as low a total as possible. We have to be disciplined in terms of our bowling. When we bat we have to put together some partnerships and get a decent first-innings score that we can build from,” added Miller.
— Sanjay Myers