TT stars missing for $M cricket

Dave Mohammed, Richard Kelly and Lendl Simmons are expected to be with the West Indies “A” team in England when the regional Carib Beer series champions play their first match on July 25.

And Dwayne Bravo will also be missing as he takes up a contract in England on Thursday with Kent.

Manager of the team Omar Khan told Newsday he was still uncertain whether West Indies captain Brian Lara will be in the TT team for the opening match at the ARG Ground in St John’s.

Lara was not among the 15 players selected for the richest tournament ever staged in the Caribbean which has attracted 18 nations.

The opening ceremony for the inaugural 20/20 cricket fiesta was held on Saturday.

St Maarten and the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) will take the field for the opening match tomorrow.

Bahamas and the Cayman Islands will meet in another match on Tuesday with the winners facing Trinidad and Tobago on July 25.

Trinidad and Tobago who won Carib Shield and the International Challenge for the first time in 21 years earlier this season will have a competitive team despite being without some of their key players.

Jamaican born hard-hitting allrounder Ricardo Powell, Test batsman Daren Ganga, wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Ramdin and experienced fastbowler Mervyn Dillon will form the nucleus of the team.

Ganga will captain the local team in the knock-out tournament. In Ganga’s absence for the opening ceremony veteran Shazam Babwah will stand in as skipper said Khan.

He said the team was scheduled to play a warm-up match yesterday at the ARG against Antigua.

And among the players taking part were young batsman Justin Guillen, fastbowler Ryad Emrit, Kyron Lynch and Samuel Badree.

The winner of the competition will receive US$1 million while their territorial board will collect US$200,000 which will go towards the enhancement and development of the sport in that country.

The second place team will pocket US 500, 00 while an US $100,000 will be handed over to the local cricket board.

TT TEAM: Justin Guillen, Kyron Lynch, Rishaad Harris, Keiron Pollard, Shazam Babwah, William Perkins, Samuel Badree, Imran Khan, Nicholas Ramjass, Ken Hazel, Ryad Emrit.