TTCB – News

TT cricketers will rebound from heavy loss says coach
January 12, 2010

COACH of the Trinidad and Tobago cricket team, Kelvin Williams is confident that the team will rebound in the second round of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Four-Day tournament.

Trinidad and Tobago will play Guyana in the first day/night match of the tournament at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua. The Calypso Warriors were outplayed in their opening match losing by 151 runs on Monday to Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

They need an outright victory go give themselves an outside chance of winning the drastically shortened tournament this season.

“This will be a challenging one if we are to win the tournament. We need to win the remainder of our matches and hopefully Jamaica and CCC who opening with wins lose somewhere along the line.

“It will be a challenging one for us but we could finish on top providing the top two fall somewhere along the line,” said Williams yesterday in a telephone interview from Jamaica.

The national team arrived in Antigua yesterday at 3.30 pm and are scheduled to practice this afternoon at 5.30 pm with the pink balls that will be used in day/night matches.

“Our manager confirmed that he will be collecting the pink balls and we need to get accustom to these balls quickly. It is important that we get accustom to these pink balls and see how they react and what they do. We will have a couple of sessions where the players will be shaping up for the condition of the day/night match,” said Williams.

Coach Williams explained that he is hoping to grasp the first opportunity to inspect the facilities at the Sir Vivian Richard Stadium. The venue was shrouded in controversy last year after the Second Test match between the West Indies and England was abandoned after only 10 balls were bowled after a heavily sanded outfield resulted in hazardous conditions.

“I am hoping to see the conditions and the wicket at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. We will want to assess the wicket and hopefully we could train at the facility, but that has not been decided as yet. I don’t think there will be any problems which the West Indies and England encountered last year,” said Williams.

The batting was the downfall for the national team against the CCC, being dismissed for 107 and 124 with left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh the chief destroyer finishing with match figures of 12 for 84.
“Our batsmen played totally out of character. They did not assess the conditions and need to do something different in the match to correct the problem. The batsmen need to be mindful of their roles in the team and must assess the situation of the match and play accordingly,” said Williams.

The former national player was confident that his players could respond positively from the disappointment of the first match and rise to the occasion against a a depleted Guyana team.

“The players need to retain their confidence and also they must show greater concentration. Our batting really let us down and the batsmen must recognise that they are an important area,” said Williams.

Ahead of the opening match of the WICB Four-Day tournament Williams expressed confident in the batting due to the batting he saw at the Gerry Gomez North/South Classic.

There were centuries by Daren and Sherwin Ganga with Rayad Emrit scoring a half century while several other batsmen has useful innings.

“I analysed the North/South Classic with the team and at the match you would notice players scoring a century off 100 balls. They were scoring runs quickly and they tried that same approach in the first match. There was no player prepared to play patiently and spend time at the crease.

“The wicket was on the slow side and the longer you stayed at the crease the better because you would get accustom to the wicket,” said Williams.

He stated that the players cannot expect good pitches at every match and must be ready to make the necessary adjustments.