Port-of-Spain, Trinidad – Trinidad and Tobago captain Denesh Ramdin is hoping to lead from the front when he takes the team into battle in the West Indies Cricket Board’s Caribbean T20 tournament, to be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua and Kensington Oval in Barbados from January 9 to 22.
Trinidad and Tobago new skipper Dinesh Ramdin.
Ramdin has taken over from Daren Ganga and is in charge of a T&T side which is full of confidence. Ramdin, who will turn 27 in March, says he is looking to continue the good work of Ganga.
“Daren Ganga did a very good job for T&T and now that I have been asked to take over I will be looking continue … giving my all for the team and the country and lead from the front. It is a very big responsibility to be given the job to lead your country, so I am eager and looking forward to this upcoming tournament,” Ramdin said.
“The tag of favourites is not a burden for us. We know what it is like to be the team that everyone else wants to beat so we know what we have to do. We will enter the tournament with confidence, a confidence knowing that we have players who can win matches for us as well as the fact that we have a cohesive, united team,” Ramdin added.
The defending champs have named allrounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard in their 14-man squad. Along with this pair T&T also boast young batting talents Darren Bravo and Adrian Barth; the three-dimensional Lendl Simmons; as well as pacer Ravi Rampaul, and the clever spin of Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree.
“We have Dwayne and Pollard back and these are key guys for us. We view the CT20 as a big tournament, something that we always look forward to. There is a lot of talk about this event but we will take it match by match and moment by moment. We are not speaking about the Champions League or anything like that. At this stage, with a few days to go before the tournament starts, we are concentrating on our preparation, on our readiness for every match and on the opponents we will face in the matches. If we get the preparations right, we will be alright.”
Ramdin said the CT20 is the first stage as T&T look to have an all-conquering year in 2012, adding that they have the quality players who can perform in all three formats of the game.
The captain noted: “We believe we have the bases covered. We have several players who have played at the international level and others who have done well for T&T in regional cricket as well as in the Champions League, so we have players who know what is required. Ultimately, our focus is to be on top in all versions of cricket in the Caribbean — T20, 50-over and four-day. We see this week as the beginning of what we hope will be a big year in the development of this team and of our young group of players.”
T&T will play in Group A of the Caribbean T20. They will play in the tournament opener against the Windward Islands at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on Monday at 4 pm (3 pm Jamaica Time).
FULL SQUAD: Denesh Ramdin (captain/wicket-keeper), Samuel Badree, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Kevon Cooper, Rayad Emrit, Sherwin Ganga, Justin Guillen, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Lendl Simmons.