WEST INDIES CRICKET BOARD FOUR-DAY CHAMPIONSHIP
February 5th 2009

Weather holds the key in T&T, CCC clash

The weather holds the key in Friday’s all important fifth round fixture between T&T and the Combined Campuses and Colleges in the WICB Four-Day championship at the Sir Frank Worrell Grounds in St Augustine.

The unseasonal weather system which is plaguing the region in recent weeks, with torrential showers, has affected a series of domestic matches during the week, and more rain has been forecast for this weekend.

However, second vice-president of the T&T Cricket Board and head of the Regional Matches Committee, Leo Doodnath, said that all systems are in place for the game.

“ I've been working closely on a daily basis with officials at UWI SPEC, people like Dr.Iva Gloudon - Director of SPEC and Ramnath Persad - Grounds Curator, and I hasten to add that they have all been indeed very co-operative and highly professional.

We had a dry run with the ground staff in terms of the covering of the pitch overnight and covering should the rains come during the game and all systems seem to be in place,” Doodnath said.

T&T who is fourth in the seven-team standings on 21 points, will be going all out to secure another outright win, following their tremendous victory against the Windward Islands two weeks ago at Guaracara Park in Pointe-a-Pierre.

Led by inspirational captain Daren Ganga, T&T has made three forced changes in their 14-man-squad for this crucial match.

Allrounder Samuel Badree has replaced the injured Darren Bravo, batsman Imran Khan comes into the side at the expense of left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed, who has opted out because of personal reasons.

Also returning to the team is wicketkeeper/batsman Gibran Mohammed, who has replaced Denesh Ramdin, who is on regional duties against England.

Coach of the T&T team, Kelvin Williams said that the guys will be pushing for an outright win to stay in contention for championship honours.

“ We need full points to stay in contention. We are behind leaders Jamaica so we have to continue pushing,” Williams said.

“ The boys are going into the game with a lot more confidence, seeing that they performed so well against the Windwards, but we have to be mindful of complacency,” Williams stated.

The former T&T allrounder said talented left-handed batsman Darren Bravo will be missed a lot but his replacement will be equalled to the task.

T&T rounded off their preparations with a light training session Thursday, at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva.

The CCC team is one from last in the table with 12 points and will be going all out to improve in the standings.

Player/coach of the CCC team, Floyd Reifer said that the guys are improving with each game and they have made a better start in comparision to last year.

“ We have seen improvement in some players, with Nicolai Parris scoring his first hundred, and Kevin McClean just back after representing the West Indies ‘A’ team against the touring England team.

Together as a team we are playing better cricket and we are looking forward to another good performance against Trinidad and Tobago,” Reifer told the Trinidad Guardian.

CCC had their final workout Thursday with a session at the Queen’s Park Oval.

Match starts at 10 am.

TEAMS:

T&T: Daren Ganga (captain), Adrian Barath, Sherwin Ganga, Lendl Simmons, Justin Guillen, Samuel Badree, Richard Kelly, Gibran Mohammed, Imran Khan, Navin Stewart, Atiba Alert, Sunil Narine, Amit Jaggernauth, Kieron Pollard. Manager: Colin Borde. Coach: Kelvin Williams. Physio/Trainer: Ronald Rogers.

CCC: Simon Jackson (captain), Ryan Austin, Romel Currency, Kavesh Kantasingh, Gilford Moore, Jamel Noel, Nicolai Parris, Omar Phillip, Anderson Sealy, Chadwick Walton, Kirt Wilkinson, Floyd Reifer - Player/Coach. Manager: Horton Dolphin. Ass’t Manager: Stephen Leslie. Physio: Andrew Simpson.

Umpires: Terrence Birbal (T&T) & Dhiarandranath Balgobin (Guyana). Stand-by: Joel Wilson. Match Referee: Clarence Shafrali. Match Adjudicator: Boya Sahadeo.

Statistician: Rohit Balkissoon.