TT cricketers look to make amends

The Trinidad and Tobago cricket team arrived at Kaiser on the north coast of Jamaica yesterday evening for their Red Stripe Bowl regional cricket one-day semi-final fit and ready to meet the challenge of Barbados.

Manager of the team Omar Khan reported yesterday all is fine with the cricketers on their arrival at the tourist resort town. “At present the guys are a bit tired after the three-hour journey from Kingston but they are all fit. Mervyn Dillon has recovered from the lightning strike a week ago and is keen to get after the Barbadian batting come Friday,” Khan said. Dillon was struck by lightning while batting against the Windward Islands at Ken-sington Park. He spent one night at the University Hospital at Mo-na and has been on the up since. Also coming off the injury list is consistent middle-order batsman Shazam Babwah. The right hander is now fully recovered from a foot injury and will be taking his place in the batting line-up for the semi-final.

Babwah, the CLICO Preysal captain has been in tremendous form striking an unbeaten 102 against the Windwards and 45 against the Jamaicans in the final preliminary match. “The players are focused on the match and they know that the Barbadians can be toppled. They have been able to put the two-run defeat at the hands of the Jamaicans behind them and are  looking forward to making amends by getting into the final,” said Khan yesterday. “We are treating this match as a virtual final and if we can get over the Barbadians we can go on and win the Red Stripe Bowl that has eluded us so far,” he said.

The last time TT won the regional limited overs cricket title was in 1996 when Rajindra Dhanraj grabbed a match-winning  hat-trick against Guyana in the finals at Bourda. The previous year TT shared the title with the Leeward Islands after two attempts to play the final at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain failed because of persistent rain. TT last captured the regional First-Class title in 1985 under the leadership of off-spinner Rangy Nanan.