JAMAICA Scorpions Head Coach Andrew Richardson says solid batting will be central to them challenging for the regional Super50 title.

“We have a lot of quality, all-round cricketers at this level and a lot of our batters are coming into some sort of form,” he said on Monday after the Scorpions announced their squad for the tournament.

“The teams that bat fairly well, bat the [entire] 50 overs, normally do well in this competition — and that’s something I’ve been trying to drive home in our practice games. We know our bowling is fairly potent and I expect the bowlers to do well,” Richardson, in his first stint as Scorpions head coach after Andre Coley resigned in August, told the Jamaica Observer.

Jermaine Blackwood will skipper the team before he and Nkrumah Bonner join the West Indies Test squad for their two-match series against Australia which is to begin in late November. Rovman Powell, the West Indies Twenty20 vice-captain, will take over the captaincy in Blackwood’s absence.

This season’s Super50 competition will feature eight teams — the traditional six franchises along with the West Indies Academy and Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC).

The Super50 is slated to get underway on Saturday with a Zone B contest between Leeward Islands Hurricanes and West Indies Academy at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua and Barbuda.

The Scorpions, who are scheduled to journey to Antigua on Thursday, are to open their account against the Hurricanes on November 1. Barbados Pride are also in Zone B.

Zone A comprises defending champions Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, Guyana Harpy Eagles, Windward Islands Volcanoes and CCC.

Matches are scheduled to be played at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium and Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua, and at Brian Lara Cricket Academy and Queens Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago.

Scorpions squad – Jermaine Blackwood (captain), Rovman Powell, Brandon King, Odean Smith, Sheldon Cottrell, Nkrumah Bonner, Chadwick Walton, Alwyn Williams, Jamie Merchant, Andre McCarthy, Dennis Bulli, Jeavor Royal, Nicholson Gordon, Marquino Mindley, Peat Salmon, Aldaine Thomas

— Sanjay Myers