TT primed for more success

BOUYED by their unexpected but emphatic victory against Barbados on Saturday, Trinidad and Tobago’s young cricketers are hungry for more success in the regional limited overs tournament in Guyana. This was the unequivocal assessment of the team’s mood by manager Omar Khan following their upset three-wicket victory against the reigning league and four-day regional champions. “The team is very confident and intend to maintain the high standard they have set in the opening match of the tournament,” said Khan yesterday in a telephone interview. However there was some bad news coming out the the TT camp when solid middle-order Shazam Babwah was rushed to the Georgetown Hospital for attention to the thumb on his left hand.

Khan said Babwah hurt the finger attempting to take a catch in Saturday’s match and it became swollen and painful overnight. He said Babwah was attended to at the hospital and will be definitely out of the line-up to face defending champions and hosts Guyana at Albion tomorrow in another crucial test for the TT team led by Daren Ganga. The injury to Babwah will give an opportunity to either Jonathan Augustus or Earnil Ryan, the two least experienced of the squad. The TT team has been severely depleted of its top players including West Indies captain Brian Lara, veteran fast bowler Mervyn Dillon, allrounder Dwayne Bravo and middle-order batsman Lendl Simmons who were not selected because of injury.

Khan said yesterday that a decision on the final eleven players to face Guyana will be made tonight after a team meeting. “We are effectively down to 13 players now but who we will pick and what kind of game plan we will be executing will be based on the type of conditions the ground will present,” said Khan. He said as against Barbados, the team will be emphasising the steady bowling of Imran Jan and Sherwin Ganga, who shared seven wickets and reduced their opponent’s batting to tatters. They also featured in a superb opening partnership of 106 runs which laid the foundation for the successful run chase and a memorable victory for the underdogs. The TT teams leaves Enmore this morning for a two and half-hour drive to Berbice before taking a ferry to Albion, venue for tomorrow’s crucial match.

Khan said apart from the injury to Babwah, all the others players are fit and participated in a full training session yesterday. He said the players were told to guard against complacency and that Saturday’s victory was just one of five that they have to accomplish in Guyana in order to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament to be played in Barbados. Khan said that while spin was the secret weapon against the Bajans on Saturday, the team will decide on their strategy against the Guyanese tomorrow who will be led by West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The hosts are also on a high after their resounding 35-run victory against the Windward Islands yesterday. “We know the Bajan openers were susceptible to spin so we opened the bowling with Samuel Badree and gave Sherwin Ganga and Imran Jan a spell each which paid rich dividends. We will decide on a match-to-match basis what is our most effective form of attack,” said Khan yesterday.