After Oshane Thomas recently failed minimum fitness standards, the Jamaica Scorpions Assistant Coach Nikita Miller is urging the fast bowler to rediscover the cutting edge that made him one of the hottest prospects in regional cricket.

Thomas, 24, had a minor role as the Scorpions reached the semi-finals at last month’s Super50 Cup in Antigua. He played the opening two matches — both of which the Scorpions lost — but was ineffective, leaking runs and taking only one wicket from a combined 13 overs.

“I was a bit disappointed with Oshane — he needs to work on his fitness,” Miller told the Jamaica Observer.

“He needs to get back up to scratch and get back to that Oshane Thomas that we know and we’re used to — that high speed, high intensity fast bowler. It’s in his hands, so he needs to improve and hopefully we will correct that going forward,” he said.

Left-armed pacer Sheldon Cottrell, 31, and 32-year-old swing bowler Derval Green were among others woefully below their best.

“I think as a unit we fell way below expectations coming into the tournament. We had some injury issues with our two main strike bowlers in Cottrell and Oshane. I still believe we are not where we used to be in terms of our bowling,” the former left-armed spin-bowling ace continued.

Thomas has enjoyed success in One-Day International and Twenty20 cricket for West Indies. But, though expressing ambition to be among the greats in Test cricket, he is yet to play the longest version for the regional side.

His earliest impact at first-class level was spectacular. His first delivery on debut was an almost unplayable ball that had veteran left-hander Devon Smith edging a catch behind the wicket.

However, since breaking into the West Indies senior team in 2018, the Jamaican pacer has sustained injury niggles which have raised questions about his fitness regime.

Thomas and left-armed pacer Cottrell were among four prominent regional players who failed recent physical fitness tests carried out by Cricket West Indies.

Miller, the assistant to Scorpions Head Coach Andre Coley, noted that Thomas was not the only let-down during the Super50 campaign, as the batting and fielding departments were also below required levels.

The Jamaica-based franchise did have more than its fair share of pre-tournament challenges.

Due to restrictions in Jamaica aimed at reducing exposure to the novel coronavirus, the Scorpions were disadvantaged by not having full squad training and practice matches. The limited preparation noticeably affected their batting, fielding and bowling.

The slow-starting Scorpions lost their opening three games of the tournament, and only scraped into the semis after winning their final two preliminary contests.

In the semi-final contest versus eventual champions Trinidad and Tobago Red Force they were outplayed in all aspects of the game and went down by six wickets.

Miller said the batting unit was the weakest link.

“The batting had the poorest showing of all the departments. I was very disappointed; we didn’t show any real character, we didn’t show real smartness when we were batting, and it’s something we need to address and hopefully we can do so in quick time.

“We were pretty poor in the field — I don’t think that was us, a fielding unit. We need to sharpen up in the field and that’s something as coaches we will address going forward. We dropped too many chances… and stuff like that will definitely hurt you,” he told the Observer.