January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
There never was any controversy over Clay
It was a convincing victory and I'm sure the spectators went home happy.
County has always been the ultimate for St. David's. The way it's been is that as long as we win the county cup the players and the fans are happy.
I want to change that mindset. I'm trying to instill in my players that county isn't everything. I want to win the league title.
If the players show the passion they showed for Eastern County every week, we would be unbeatable. It's a big game, a big crowd and top players love that kind of atmosphere.
Our guest player Clay Smith showed once again what a class act he is. His record shows for itself - Cup Match, Eastern County - he's a big day guy.
Despite what you might have read there was never any controversy within the club about Clay's selection. One or two fans may not have agreed with it but that will happen whomever you pick. There was no dispute within the club.
And Clay went in and did the job. He played professionally and built his innings on an excellent wicket. It's a great track to bat on and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it.
Bailey's Bay got more runs than we would have liked. A few edges went through and they did okay with the bat.
But 230 is not a huge total at St. David's and they took so long to score them that we never felt in danger of losing the game.
It was the biggest crowd of the year at Lord's on Saturday. The atmosphere was unbelievable.
Cricket used to be like that week in, week out in Bermuda, with families having their camps round the field for league games.
It would be great to have that kind of atmosphere all the time. But the standard is not that high right now and I have to admit I'd be the first to say I don't want to go and pay to watch cricket on a weekend if the standard is not there.
We have a job to do as players and that is to perform for the crowd and keep them entertained. If we bring up the standard, the spectators will come back.
I'm starting to hear the right things from my players now. I hear them saying 'we want to win the league title' and they showed it this weekend by going and beating Western Stars the day after the county game.
Guys normally like to go out and party after the county game and there's always a bit of a hangover the next day.
That showed a little bit in the first innings against Stars. They shouldn't be scoring 100 against us and they went and made 250.
But we woke up when we came into bat and Fiqre Crockwell played a very good innings to get his first century.
He built his innings right from opening bat and I'm pretty sure he's put himself in the Cup Match reckoning.
We have two very good keepers at St. David's. Chris (Foggo) had a good knock on Saturday and both of those guys are in contention for Cup Match.
We had five St. David's players in the team last year --myself, Arthur Pitcher, George (O'Brien), Delyone and OJ and we have even more in contention this time. We have a good reputation for producing top cricketers at St. David's.[[In-content Ad]]
Comments:
You must login to comment.