Next mission for new champs: Carib Beer Series

Trinidad and Tobago’s cricketers, newly crowned regional limited-overs champions, must translate their huge success into the four-day game. This is the fresh mandate to be handed to the President’s Cup winners when they regroup in two weeks to prepare for the West Indies Carib Beer Series which are scheduled to bowl off on January 9. And chairman of the national selectors Dudnath Ramkeesoon has no doubt that the young players will demonstrate once again they have the ability and temperament to overcome the best opposition as they did during the past three weeks. “We were very pleased with their recent performances. They got an opportunity to establish themselves and took advantage, making a name for themselves,” Ramkeesoon said yesterday in a telephone interview.

He said the team led by Daren Ganga played consistently good cricket and were rewarded with victory in the final against defending champions Guyana on Sunday at Kensington Oval in Barbados. Ramkeesoon, a former West Indies Youth team captain said that from the inception, the squad, which has been in training since July were told that the selectors were looking for cricketers with commitment and heart who were willing to give their all on the field. Then, he said, the team was hit with a spate of injuries ruling out star players Brian Lara, the West Indies captain, allrounder Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Simmons and experienced fast bowler Mervyn Dillon. “But out of adversity comes good and a bad beginning made a good ending,” said Ramkeesoon. “Each player now knew they had to put out their best and they rose to the occasion.”

He said the smashing success of the team showed the depth of the Trinidad and Tobago reserves of talent and reflected the hard work in the technical and physical aspects of the game employed in the past months. Ramkeesoon said the Trinidad and Tobago players gained valuable experienced playing over 50 overs in the Carib Beer sponsored national competition and this showed when they fought back tenaciously on several occasions recently with their backs to the wall. “It was no good playing a 30-overs competition locally when the regional and international standard is 50-overs so we made the change and it groomed the players well,” said Ramkeesoon. The head of the selection panel which also includes Roland Sampath and David Williams, the national coach, said the next objective was the regional four-day tournament.

Ramkeesoon said that the star players who missed out on the one-day glory will be considered when the team resumes training most likely after the Eid Holiday on November 15. That group includes Dave “Tadpole” Mohammed, who was omitted from the squad for not turning up for trials and Ravi Rampaul, the West Indies fast bowler who was injured on the Test tour of England earlier this year. Ramkeesoon said Rampaul is eager to return to the game but the selectors must first get him  cleared from the medical officer before he can be included in the plan to prepare for the regional Carib Beer Series. “We expect the players to exhibit the same hunger for success that they did during the one-day tournament. They have all shown that they have the ability and confidence to succeed so nothing they did surprised us,” said Ramkeesoon.