Dillon in Parkites team for Fruta Twenty/20 Festival

FORMER West Indies fast bowler Mervyn Dillon will be sporting the Queen’s Park colours tonight, against W Connection Wanderers, as the Fruta Twenty/20 Cricket Festival continues at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Balmain, Couva. The 29-year-old Dillon fell out of favour with the regional selectors following the Cable and  Wireless One-Day International series against England.

But, with his record of 131 wickets from 38 Test matches and 122 wickets in 103 one-dayers, his experience will be vital in a youthful Queen’s Park team which will include national Under-19 players Petrock Nicholas, Rishard Harris, Samuel Felix and Justin Guillen. According to assistant coach David Furlonge, the Parkites, who were eliminated in the semifinal stage last year, “hope to do well and hopefully, we can go one further.”

Wanderers, who copped the Carib Shield title recently, were also knocked out in the final four last year and, according to coach Narine Bideshi, “expectations are great and we’ll be looking to go two steps further (to victory).” Bideshi noted that the team will rely heavily on national U-19 player William Perkins, Joel Pamphille, pacer Avalon Cuffy and spinner Sanjeev Gooljar. The first match of this evening’s double-header will feature PowerGen against Munroe Road from 6 pm.