Kingston Hummingbirds Secure Back-to-Back Wins in Red Stripe Elite League

Defending champions Kingston Hummingbirds recorded their second consecutive victory in the Red Stripe Elite League, defeating Sand and Orchids 52-46 at the National Indoor Sports Centre.

The result followed an opening-round loss to the Manchester Spurs and reflected a marked improvement in positional play from Carrington Brown’s squad. The Hummingbirds controlled the early stages of the first quarter and held a narrow 14-12 lead before finishing with a six-goal cushion.

Tracy-Ann Francis led the scoring for the winners with 43 goals from 48 attempts. Natalie Campbell was Sand and Orchids’ top performer, landing 30 from 37 tries.

Brown said the team held a pre-match discussion centred on staying composed in possession and maintaining defensive pressure when the ball was turned over. “We had a discussion this evening and we talked about staying in control and staying focused when it’s our ball and just keep defending when we lose the ball and the ladies did just that,” he said.

He noted that substitutions from the bench did not always produce the intended effect and that coaches occasionally grew anxious during the contest. “Sometimes we get a little worried on the bench, we’re humans, we have feelings and sometimes when we make some changes it don’t go as well as we want it to go and we have to just make another change or make other changes just to keep the flow of the game going,” Brown said. “Sometimes yes it get frustrating but we have to hold it on court, hold it on the bench and just stay focused.”

Sand and Orchids head coach Rashid Joseph attributed the defeat to a breakdown in team discipline despite solid preparation at training. “We slipped up in the game when it came on to the team discipline overall,” he said. “We did go to our training session and we worked out a few things that should have taken us over the line in a winning fashion. But then it broke down when it came on to the discipline and that’s where we lost out.”