Bridgetown, Barbados – Trinidad & Tobago are “ready, set and go” for their semi-final battle with Combined Campuses & Colleges in the Regional Super50 Tournament.
The unbeaten Trinidad and Tobago team. Photo: WICB Media/Randy Brooks
T&T won all their preliminary matches and will look to make it seven wins in a row on Thursday at the historic Kensington Oval here.
The second semi-final will be played at the same venue on Friday, while the Grand Final will be on Sunday. First ball in all matches is 2:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. Jamaica Time) and all matches will be aired on ESPN.
T&T captain Denesh Ramdin was at the helm when the Red Force won the Caribbean Twenty20 back in January and said his team is looking to add the Clive Lloyd Trophy to their trophy cabinet.
“It’s a big game,” he said on Wednesday. “Every semi-final is a big game. We have a very good team and we enjoy playing here at Kensington Oval – it’s a wonderful place for cricket. This pitch looks like a very good one. We are expecting a high-scoring match.”
Ramdin was speaking to the media after he and team-mates had a full morning training session under the watchful eye of their coach David Williams.
“We are looking forward to being in the Final and we know that the CCC are a tough bunch, but we are ready for them,” he said.
“The batting let us down in the last four-day game against the Barbadians, but the batsmen know where they went wrong and to their credit they have been working hard at correcting this problem.”
T&T topped the preliminaries, but were made to work for their victories. They beat Jamaica with two balls to spare – thanks to some good lower-order batting by allrounder Yannick Ottley and Rayad Emrit. They were also tested against Barbados and Ramdin responded with a masterful 134 – the highest score so far this season – which pulled the innings around after an early clatter of wickets.
Ramdin called for “more” from the top order and indicated Lendl Simmons and Adrian Barath will bat at the top and left-hander Justin Guillen with slot in at No.3.
“Simmons has made it clear that he is an opener and wants to stay in that position,” said Ramdin.
“I have spoken to Barath and he agrees that he has to be a bit more selective. He has all the shots in the book and has been in reasonable form, but has not delivered the kind of runs he would like. We are backing him to do well this weekend.
“Guillen is another batsman who has played well in the Super50 and we know what he can do as well, so there are a number of combinations we are playing with and trying to come up with the right one. There is also a possibility that our other keeper Nicholas Pooran, who has had a good Super50 series, will play as a batsman.”