WELCOME HOME - Kingsmen captain Powell eyes Sabina joy after heartbreaking opening loss

Rovman Powell has challenged his Jamaica Kingsmen to turn a narrow defeat into the start of something positive as the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League returns to Sabina Park for the first time in five years this evening.

The Kingsmen captain spoke to the media yesterday ahead of today’s 7 p.m. clash with the Barbados Tridents, still feeling the disappointment of a last-ball, two-wicket defeat to the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in the season opener.

Rather than dwell on the heartbreak, however, Powell is urging his young squad to embrace the occasion and the passionate home crowd, which has been without a local franchise for several years.

“It’s exciting times for us as a cricketing country. CPL cricket hasn’t been in Jamaica for the last five or six years,” Powell said.

“Hopefully, tomorrow we can give the fans a win, but what I’m looking forward to is people coming out and supporting us as we start a new journey here in cricket.”

That journey began with a painful lesson about the demands of elite competition.

The Kingsmen pushed the Falcons all the way but ultimately fell short when it mattered most.

“If you play a game and it goes to the last ball, that shows how close the game was, and that shows that any team could have won. Unfortunately for us, we were on the losing end,” Powell reflected.

“I think we played some good cricket. We just didn’t play good cricket for long enough periods, and in an elite competition like this, when you do that, you tend to come out on the losing end.”

The Kingsmen’s squad has a distinct Jamaican flavour, with rising stars Vitel Lawes, Jeavor Royal and Kirk McKenzie all at the “infancy of their international or elite cricketing career”, according to their captain.

Long-term project

Powell, however, views that not as a weakness, but as the foundation of a long-term project.

“When you start a programme like what Kingsmen have done in investing so much in cricket in Jamaica, you have to start with a young core. If you don’t have a plan for the future, then you don’t have any plan,” he stated. “It’s just for those young players to learn, and learn fast.”

The skipper also drew a distinction between inexperience and potential.

“Sometimes you are young in terms of cricketing experience, but not necessarily young in terms of age. But when you look at a new class of guys, especially the local guys, they’re very young in cricketing experience, and they’re very young in age. So that in itself is a bonus.”

Powell has a special connection to Jamaica’s CPL history. The last time a franchise represented the island, he captained the Tallawahs to championship glory, a memory that remains a source of pride.

“It left a good taste in my mouth, left a good taste in the people of Jamaica’s mouth to know that the last time there was a CPL team, we were champions, and I was captain.

“Hopefully, this year we can replicate that. It would be difficult with so many young guys. But having said that, if we gel fast enough, if we play consistently good enough, we can do it.”

Asked whether the new-franchise label might lower expectations, Powell was unequivocal.

“No, it’s not a case of settling. A lot has been invested from a financial standpoint with getting the franchise. With us as cricketers, our career is at stake, so it’s not a matter of settling. Each and every year you want to get better.”

The Barbados Tridents, playing their first match of the season, will provide a formidable test.

But for Powell and his young Kingsmen, tonight at Sabina Park represents more than just an opportunity to secure a first victory. It marks the beginning of a new chapter for franchise cricket in Jamaica.