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Jason pleased with SACA performance
Somerset got our pre-season programme off to a winning start by claiming a 22-run victory over the South Asian Cricket Academy in the Abu Dhabi T20 Super Cup this morning.
We caught up with Head Coach, Jason Kerr after the game to get his thoughts on the match.
“I’m pleased with how it went today,” he said. “There’s some things that we’ll need to improve as we move towards the start of the season, but there were some really good elements too. It wasn’t the easiest of conditions with the heat and there was a little bit in the surface, but we managed to post a competitive score.
“Sean Dickson picked up where he left off last season and was able to reestablish partnerships whilst under pressure, and Kasey Aldridge gave the innings tremendous impetus at the end. With the ball, we tried a few things, and I thought that Lewis Goldsworthy was really good with the new ball. He demonstrated a lot of the things that he’s been working on over the winter. Josh Davey was superb at the death and Jack Leach showed everyone that he’s one of the best bowlers in the world.”
Why are these fixtures so important at this stage of the season?
“We spent a huge amount of time working on things over the winter and we want to see that growth in these games,” Jason explained. “We saw examples of that today with guys going out there and utilising new skills that they’ve been working on and they’ll get confidence from that. We’ll be looking to reinforce that again over the course of the next few games.
“The younger players will certainly benefit from this kind of experience and they’ll also benefit from being around the group. The likes of Lewis Gregory, Craig Overton and Jake Ball didn’t play today but they were in and around the group talking about the game and sharing their knowledge. That’s invaluable for the young lads because it helps to educate them around what they need to do to be able to go all the way. Lewis Gregory spoke to the team after the game as Club Captain and was full of praise for the players, especially those who stood up at key moments. For him to recognise that, reflect and share that with the group certainly bodes well for the way that young talent comes through into our First XI environment.”
Somerset’s next game in the competition is against Nottinghamshire tomorrow.
Ahead of match two, Jason said: “We’ll make some changes for the Notts game and of course we’re expecting a competitive game. We want to perform and win the game, but the result isn’t necessarily the most important thing at this stage of the season. Having said that, there will be that sense of professional pride at stake and hopefully we can put in another good performance.”
