Ganga: Ramdin a future Test player

Trinidad and Tobago cricket captain Daren Ganga has revealed that wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin is the new vice-captain of the national senior team. And he extolled the virtues of the young man whom he describes as “a future West Indies Test player.” Ramdin is the former captain of the national team who were double-crowned champions at the West Indies Youth tournament in Guyana two years ago. He later led the West Indies youth team to the final of the ICC Junior World Cup in Bangladesh last year. During the 2004 season, left-handed Imran Jan served as captain for the first four matches while Ganga took over for the final two against Jamaica and Barbados. Jan is still a member of the senior team but the selectors have decided to groom Ramdin for the future.

Ganga spoke glowingly of his young deputy and described him as a player for the future. “Ramdin is something special. He is a young player who is willing to do things for himself. And he has got a good cricketing mind. “He thinks the game and has a lot of new ideas,” said Ganga. “He backs his ability and you can obviously see that he has a whole wealth of talent. I think he is definitely going to play for West Indies at the highest level,” extolled skipper Ganga. The skipper also lavished praise on his team and especially the heroes against Barbados in the historic second round encounter. Although he declared it was a “team effort” he singled out batsmen Tishan Maraj and Imran Jan as well as spinners Dave Mohammed and Amit Jaggernauth for special mention.

Maraj and Jan produced a match-winning 162-fourth wicket partnership. Both batsmen were dismissed for 99 but their heroics proved to be the cornerstone for TT’s victory. The final result was ushered in by the magnificence of Mohammed who destroyed Barbados in their first innings with a new career best of seven wickets for 49 runs. And Jaggernauth completed the job in the second innings, with his new career best of five wickets for 40 runs. TT celebrated only their second victory over Barbados in Barbados since 1966. And more history was recorded because it was the first time that Barbados was beaten at home by any team, away from their famous Test venue — Kensington Oval.

Ramdin, who plays for Clico Preysal also featured prominently in TT’s triumphant march to the President’s Cup regional limited overs title last year by dethroning Guyana in the final at Kensington Oval, Barbados on October 31. Ramdin was voted “Best Wicketkeeper” in the final. He is playing his first full senior First Class season with the national team having represented the West Indies “B” team during last year’s Carib Beer Cricket Series. TT collected 12 points for the outright victory and moved into second spot in the overall six-team standings with 16. Jamaica head the standings on 24 points having notched two consecutive victories in both completed rounds. Barbados remained at the bottom with Leeward Islands on four points each.