Same TT squad to face Leewards

BUOYED by their historic second round Carib Beer Cricket Series regional cricket victory over Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago have retained the same 13-member for the third round clash with Leeward Islands at the Queen’s Park Oval starting on Friday. Skipper Daren Ganga and his youthful team registered a heart-warming 48-run victory in the match, which was contested at the North Stars-Crab Hill ground, St Lucy on Monday. Bowling heroes Dave Mohammed and Amit Jaggernauth combined to destroy the Barbadian batting line-up to spark wild celebrations among the Trinidadian players plus officials.

Commenting on the victory and the players for the third round match, an elated Ganga said: “I am very happy with the team’s performance. It was a great victory for us and I don’t think we will change the team for the next match.” The captain feels there is absolutely no need to change the composition of the team. Ganga  suggested that he wants to see “continuity which will help the players to focus on improving their overall game. It will also boost their confidence when they know that their efforts are appreciated and they will not be discarded with one bad performance.

“Everybody contributed in some way to our victory over Barbados. And there is an incredible feeling of optimism among the players and the team officials. It was our first full match for the season and although it was affected by the weather conditions, we still come out on top. We are really happy to return home with full points” Ganga said. Meanwhile, the squad will be training today at the Sir Frank Worrell Development Centre, Balmain and will switch to the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain tomorrow.

TT SQUAD: Daren Ganga (captain), Denesh Ramdin (vice-captain), Tishan Maraj, Sherwin Ganga, Lendl Simmons, Imran Jan, Shazam Babwah, Richard Kelly, Dave Mohammed, Kyron Lynch, Amit Jaggernauth, Samuel Badree and Reyad Emrit. Officials are Giles Antoine (manager), David Williams (coach), Gerard Garcia (trainer) and Rohit Balkissoon (scorer).