TTCB – News

Ganga confident of win vs CCC
January 7, 2010

By ZAID MOHAMMED

TRINIDAD and Tobago cricket team captain Daren Ganga has expressed confidence that his players can break their drought in the regional four-day tournament which bowls off today in Jamaica.

Trinidad and Tobago face the Combined Colleges and Campuses at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay in one of three matches in the new look seven-round tournament drastically shortened because of financial constraints.

In the other matches hosts and defending champions Jamaica play runners-up Windward Islands at Chedwin Park; and Barbados come up against the Leewards at Kensington Park.

The Calypso Warriors, regional limited overs champions has not won a regional four-day title for many years but Ganga is optimistic that this season they can go all the way.

“We are obviously looking to win the championship and we have the players who can make this happen,” Ganga said on Thursday. The TT team arrived in Jamaica on Tuesday without several of their key players who are engaged otherwise or nursing injuries.

Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard are currently participating in the Big Bash Twenty 20 club championships in Australia while Darren Bravo and Adrian Barath have been ruled out because of injury.

However the TT team possesses depth in their batting and bowling and will be heavily favoured to gets past the CCC team which is captained by Floyd Reifer and includes seven other Barbadians.

At Jarrett Park, all eyes will be on the weather as intermittent rain has been the norm for the past week while the wicket is something of an unknown since the ground has been used mainly for football in the recent past.

On Thursday the TT team called off a practice session at the ground because of the absence of proper facilities to accommodate the cricketers.

However the visitors remain undaunted they can win the opening encounter and gain some revenge for the defeat suffered against the CCC in the last match of the 2009 competition.

On Thursday TT team coach Kelvin Williams said his side remembers the defeat of last season and is not underestimating the CCC team who have in the lineup Trinidadian spinner Kavesh Kantasingh.

“We cannot take them for granted and I will hammer home in each of my players that we need to keep pressing our advantage because complacency cost us the match last year,” said Williams on Thursday.

He admitted that his main concern is the ability of the TT players to maintain their focus over four days following their steady diet of limited overs and Twenty20 cricket over the past several months.

“I just hope the players focus and bat seriously. We need to transfer the Twenty20 and limited overs form into this longer format of the game.

“This version is about patience and my big concern is how the players go and adapt,” the former national fast bowler said.

He emphasised that the bowlers will hold the key to TT’s success this season and cited their performance last year when their failure to dismiss the opposition effectively kept them out of contention for honours.

“We have a different bowling attack this season which bring new hope. The bowlers need to come to the forefront and set the tone for the team,” said Williams.

He highlighted Sunil Narine as one of the quality spinners on the team along with Dave Mohammed, Amit Jaggernauth and Imran Khan. Also expected to play a key role are bowling allrounders Rayad Emrit and Richard Kelly.

The batting is likely to be shouldered by skipper Ganga who hit a match-winning century and missed another by nine runs in the final trial match before the team was selected for Jamaica. His younger brother Sherwin also hit a century to help their South team defeat North in the annual Gerry Gomez Classic in which openers Justin Guillen and Jason Mohammed showed good form with the bat.

The CCC is led by 38-year-old Floyd Reifer who led the West Indies when the senior players withheld their services last year and will be hoping to inspire his young side to an upset victory again.

Two players with Test experience in the CCC team are Omar Phillips who has a century to his name while wicketkeeper Chad Walton has been looked upon as a future West Indies player.

Trinidad and Tobago squad – Daren Ganga (captain), Rayad Emrit, Sherwin Ganga, Justin Guillen, Lendl Simmons, Amit Jaggernauth, Richard Kelly, Imran Khan, Dave Mohammed, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul

CCC – Floyd Reifer (captain), Simon Jackson, Omar Phillips, Kyle Corbin, Nekoli Parris, Romel Currency, Chadwick Walton, Ryan Austin, Jason Bennett, Gilford Moore, Kevin McClean, Khismar Catlin, Kavesh Kantasingh