Jaggernauth on team to face Leewards

THE DREAM of an adoring mother was realised yesterday when Amit Jaggernauth was named on the Trinidad and Tobago senior cricket team to oppose the Leewards at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre on Friday.

Jaggernauth, a promising off-spinner would have made his deceased mother proud for all she wished before her untimely death was him to play for the Trinidad and Tobago team. The spinner’s mother passed away in 1998 while he was playing for Presentation College of  Chaguanas in Barbados. She spent her money on his early development taking him to the Harvard Coaching School and hoped and prayed that he would have made the team. When the youngster takes to the field on Friday in the opening match of the regional Carib Beer Series it will obviously be a very emotional time for him and his cricketer father Rukam Jaggernauth.

The national team,  led by Queen’s Park player Imran Jan includes batsmen Shazam Babwah, Dwayne Bravo, Tishan Maraj, Jamaican Ricardo Powell, Kenton Thompson and Aneil Kanhai. The wicket-keeping duties have been entrusted to Gibran Mohammed of Clarke Road. The bowling department is in the capable hands of Marlon Black, Theodore Modeste, Ryad Emrit and three spinners —- Jaggernauth, Devindra Krishna and Rodney Sooklal.

Chairman of the selection panel Dudnath Ramkeesoon speaking after the selection meeting yesterday said:  “We were originally going to select 13 players for the match but since Devindra Krishna has an injury, we have decided to go for the extra spinner.” The squad includes three spinners and it is expected that the national selectors will opt for two on the spin friendly Guaracara Park strip. Ramkeesoon added that Krishna will undergo a fitness test on the morning of the match and then the final eleven will be named.

TT team: Imran Jan (capt), Tishan Maraj, Dwayne Bravo, Ricardo Powell, Shazam Babwah, Aneil Kanhai, Kenton Thompson, Gibran Mohammed, Marlon Black, Ryad Emrit, Amit Jaggernauth, Devindra Krishna, Theodore Modeste and Rodney Sooklal.