TTCB – News

Merry Boys eyeing first T20 Championship
May 15, 2011

THREE-TIME National League champions Merry Boys of Diego Martin are aiming to make their mark in the shortest form of the game when the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board’s Premiership T20 Cricket Festival bowls off on Thursday (May 19, 2011) at Guaracara Park in Pointe-a-Pierre.

Manager of Merry Boys, Patrick Rampersad said on Sunday that he believes that his team has a perfect balance of batting and bowling and the players are eagerly anticipating the ten-day day-night competition involving the ten Premier League clubs and two Championship sides, University of Trinidad and Tobago and Aranjuez Sports.

“Although we have not won a national T20 tournament to date, we believe that we have the talent and hunger to go all the way in the T&TCB’s Premiership T20 Cricket Festival. Judging from our performance to date in the Eastern Credit Union Premiership competition, everything points to Merry Boys winning this T20 contest,” said a confident Rampersad.

The pride of Diego Martin open their campaign on Saturday, May 21 when they come up against WC Wanderers and Rampersad, a well-known Port-of-Spain Customs Broker said he expects to cross the first hurdle in an emphatic fashion and send a clear message to the other teams in the competition.

Rampersad said Queen’s Park have being playing the best cricket in the 2011 Premiership season and they should start as overwhelming favourites for the T&TCB T20 Cricket Festival title but he insists the Tragarete Road side would not have an easy time chasing a rare and historic triple crown.

While the Parkites are runaway 2011 Eastern Credit Union Premiership winners, Merry Boys have played consistently competitive cricket to claim the runner-up position and Rampersad said he is pleased with the performances which has earned the team a reputation of worthy challengers.

Rampersad, who is also an executive member of the T&TCB named solid middle-order batsman Aniel Kanhai as a mainstay of the team with bat and ball who will be relied upon to help Merry Boys progress in the Premiership T20 Cricket Festival.

In the batting department Barbados import Alcindor Holder and Merry Boys captain Kenton Thompson have also performed excellently this season and Rampersad said they should play a major role if Merry Boys are to claim their first T20 championship.

He also welcomed back into the fold penetrative fast bowler Atiba Allert who has been missing from the Merry Boys line-up for the major part of the season because of national duty while Ashley Nurse brings with him great expectation having been recently selected on the West Indies team for the one-off T20 International against the touring Pakistanis.

“We are looking forward to our opening match against Wanderers and we know they will also be well prepared with several big players like hard-hitting opening batsman William Perkins and fast bowler Navin Stewart. But we should have no difficulty,” said Rampersad.

The T&TCB Premiership T20 Cricket Festival gets going on Thursday, May 19 with two matches daily from 3 to 6 pm and 7 to 10 pm. The tournament’s major sponsors are the National Gas Company (NGC), the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) and Amstel Beer.

President of the T&TCB Azim Bassarath has announced several attractive prizes and incentives for patrons attending the matches nightly including door prizes of tickets for the upcoming West Indies versus India two One-Day Internationals at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain.

Bassarath, who expressed his appreciation to all sponsors of the T20 competition said a grand prize will also be at stake with the winner being sent to Barbados for an all expenses paid trip to see the West Indies versus India Test match at Kensington Oval.