Bongy could grace any team in this region
Anyone at this tournament would love to have Kamau Leverock in their team. I know we are not meant to harp on individuals but rather the team concept, but Bongy’s performances so far in this qualifier have been off the chart and show why he should be attracting global attention — if not from the franchises in India and Australia then definitely from this region.
I’ve played with him all my life, even lived with him, so I know first-hand what he’s about. But he has shown his quality again at White Hill Field and North Field, and why he is so highly regarded in the Americas region. That performance against Canada on the first day was something else, but then he backed it up against Cayman Islands, which proved the difference in the match outcome.
When he’s not scoring runs or taking wickets, he is doing it in the field. Those two brilliant bits of fielding against Panama and then the running catch against Cayman are highlight-reel material. That’s what we have asked for — our big players to step up, and step up in big moments when they’re needed. He is definitely putting his hand up and doing just that.
It’s just a pity that he couldn’t convert that last top innings into a century. Heaven knows, he deserved it. People can say, “he should have just hit the ball on the floor and ran two” or this and that. But the environment that we’re trying to create in the Bermuda set-up is all about taking a positive option and trying to take the game on. On another day he gets it out the middle, it goes for six and we all celebrate his 100 with him. Fine margins. But he’s doing his thing and hopefully he can keep putting in those performances and have us in positions to win games.
Four wins from four, I guess you can say it has been the perfect start. Obviously, the objective is to top the group and go through to the World Cup. For us to do that, we’re going to have to keep winning — not be too worried about net run-rate. People have been stepping up at the right times and different people have been putting their hand up to deliver match-winning performances. That's a positive and I still feel like there’s other players who haven’t really had their moment — but it’s coming.
With two matches to go we cannot take anything for granted and must push, push, push. Almost all of these matches have had periods where the underdogs to put the favourites under big pressure. That’s cricket really; there are ebbs and flows. All it takes is a couple of moments of brilliance or one or two different balls, one or two boundaries to swing the game back in your favour. That’s where you have to hold your nerve.
The team that hold their nerve for the longest and can keep doing the basics for the longest are normally the team that come out on top. We saw ths with us against Canada. We started well with the bat but it was important that we kept going the way that we did, and I feel like myself and Kamau did the basics for a long period of time, which allowed us to keep being positive with the bat. On the flip side, it is just as important for the bowlers. For the most part, our bowlers have put the ball in the right areas that can lead to wickets.
That’s been the key, the message, and from here we just need to stay positive.
• Delray Rawlins was talking to Dexter Smith