St George's will have at least three changes to squad

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25: We head into Saturday’s final Cup Match trial knowing that we’ll have to make a minimum of three changes to our squad.

There could be more, but we know for certain that Oronde Bascome, Demali Bell and OJ Pitcher will not be playing for St George’s this year.

Everyone knows that Oronde is out due to injury, but both Demali and OJ will not be involved because they are abroad at school.

Oronde served as our opening batsman the past few years and OJ is another specialist batsman so there is room for someone to showcase their talent and fill one of those roles.

There should be some added incentive for the players going into Saturday knowing there are going to be changes.  We are looking for two specialist batsmen who can bat in the top four for us.

Demali is an opening bowler so we are also looking at someone who can take the new ball for us, or if we can, find someone who is an all-rounder.

My number one

One person we don’t have to worry about is Stefan Kelly. That’s a big plus as he is my number one bowler. Stefan knows how to bowl in two day matches. He can bowl long spells as he is very fit and can bowl consistent line and length.

There was some question about whether or not he would return to Bermuda, so him coming back takes off a major worry.

With me coming back as captain after Oronde’s injury, that is something I needed as I’ve been busy at an almost non-stop pace. I’ve been training, working at my own game as well as coaching at Warwick.

I haven’t had a net session since April when I went away with the national team so I’ve had to step it up in working on my personal game.

One thing many people don’t realize there is a lot of other activities that are involved ahead of Cup Match.

I have a couple of press conferences next week plus there are a host of activities up at Somerset. Even though it is at Somerset, that’s something players from both squads should attend as part of the festivities.

On top of that, players still have to fit in work and family life.

We have five colts who have impressed and while not all of them will make the team this year, it bodes well for the future of St George’s.

Colts

Treaddie Gibbons is having a great season as an opening batsman. Christian Burgess is definitely one to look at. He’s a left-handed batsman from St George’s.

Oronde’s brother Onias has also played well.

It doesn’t matter what kind of wicket Somerset prepares for the match, it’s up to the players to produce the result.

We have to play to whatever the conditions are and we can’t blame it on the wicket or the weather.

There may be a type of wicket that’s more suited to a certain player’s game, but you have to play to win.

It doesn’t matter what the wicket is like — if it’s a bad wicket you have to sit down and bat on it. You can get a result.

Both teams have to play the wicket on the day.

Our final trial starts on Saturday at 10am. We’ll have a lunch break around 12:30pm and at 6:30pm we’ll play 20 overs.

For all of our St George’s fans I hope you’ll come out and encourage the guys on this final chance to impress and help give us a bit of lift heading into Cup Match next week.