Wicket to dictate selection of North for cricket classic

North are gearing up for the annual Pizza Hut/Queen’s Park sponsored Gerry Gomez North/South Classic which will be played from tomorrow to Wednesday.

Kelly replaced previous manager/coach Claude Phillip after he was appointed to the Trinidad and Tobago Selection Committee. He said that even though pace bowling has done the job for North in the past the team will be selected on the merit of the wicket conditions.

“The surface is a key factor because when we show up on the day you can determine how much moisture or grass there is on the wicket and you would have an idea on how to proceed and select a team.

”It will be difficult in selecting the North team because there are so many talented players but if the wicket is spin-friendly we have a talented off-spinner in Sunil Narine who took ten wickets in the trial match,” said Kelly Snr.

He noted that North has the bowling attack capable of dismissing South twice and expects a keenly contested encounter which will last the duration of the four-day match.

“The past couple of years North has produced good players and this will be an interesting match because we are missing some of our top players like Kieron Pollard while South will not have some players also like Denesh Ramdin. This match should be evenly contested but I think North will win,” said Kelly.

North will be aiming for a hat-trick of titles and team skipper Rayad Emrit has already confessed that the feat has been on his mind by Kelly Snr dispelled any thoughts of complacency within the squad.

“We will be using out two prior victories to maintain our self-confidence and give us that psychological edge over South.

We have a really good chance of beating South and I will ensure that the guys remain focussed.

“I also intend to let them know that this match is their final chance for national selection for the Carib Beer Series.

They just need to go out there and bat long, bowl line and length and victory should come to us if he play cricket hard and in the right way. Santa Claus is from the North and he delivers the goodies and we intend to deliver them again this year,” said Kelly.

North in comparison to South has a much more inexperienced and youthful team but the manager/coach sees it as a blessing for the team and is confident his squad will show their maturity and temperament.

“Nothing is wrong with youth and we have a mixture of youth and experience. There are seasoned players like Rayad Emrit and Richard Kelly and when mixed with the youngsters they will be lethal.

“Nothing can replace youthful exuberance and we have talented young players like Darren Bravo which makes our team selection difficult,” said Kelly Snr.

He said that he was grateful for being appointed the North manager/coach and it was a nice experience coaching at a higher level after working with youth cricketers for most of his career while looking forward to coaching his son which he has done through various youth teams.