PowerGen opening batsman Evin Lewis will make his First Class debut for T&T today, when the Red Force comes up against the Leeward Islands in their seventh round Regional 4-day clash at Warner Park in St Kitts. The former West Indies Under-19 player had a long hit in the nets yesterday and will be looking to make an immediate impact when play gets underway at 10 am. Yesterday, the team received a boost from regular skipper Denesh Ramdin, who sent out a BlackBerry message to the team, wishing them all the best and telling them to play their natural game and forget the fact that they need full points. He said they simply needed to play to the best of their ability and the full points would come. Skipper for this match Rayad Emrit is confident his team will get into the semis with a good performance. "The boys have gained a lot of confidence after their first innings win over Guyana and will take this into the game," said Emrit. "We are trying to stray away from thinking about which players we do not have and instead concentrate on the bunch we have and work hard to get best results. "A number of these young players are keen to represent their country and make a name for themselves and this is motivation enough to go out there and play to the best of their ability."
T&T is in a must-win situation in order to guarantee a place in the semi-finals of the tournament. They will also hope that the Windward Islands prevent Barbados from getting an outright win, as the Bajans would finish second and T&T would then have to take the road for the semis. T&T is currently fourth in the standings with 34 points, Jamaica lead with 60 points, followed by Guyana on 39 and Barbados 34. Manager of the team Omar Khan said conditions are likely to assist batsmen and the T&T bowlers will have their work cut out. "The bowlers would have their work cut out. An inspection of the pitch revealed that it is the typical Warner Park pitch full of runs." The Leewards will be out a prove a point, as they are lodged at the bottom of the standings. In other matches, Windwards play Barbados in St George's Grenada, while the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) hosts Jamaica at the Three W's Oval in Bridgetown.
Results
Points standings after the sixth round of matches:
Teams M W L D Pts
Jamaica 5 5 - - 60
Guyana 6 3 2 1 39
Barbados 5 3 2 - 36
T&T 5 2 2 1 34
Windwards 5 2 3 - 28
CCC 5 1 4 - 12
Leewards 5 1 4 - 12
Teams:
T&T: Rayad Emrit (captain), Justin Guillen, Akeal Hosein, Marlon Barclay, Jason Mohammed (vice-captain), Aneil Kanhai, Imran Khan, Gibran Mohammed, Evin Lewis, Shannon Gabriel, Kavesh Kantasingh, Teshawn Castro, Emile Rajah
Leewards: Gavin Williams (captain), Kieran Powell, Nelson Bolan, Jason Campbell, Jahmar Hamilton, Shane Jeffers, Larry Joseph, Steve Liburd, Anthony Martin, Orlando Peters, Devon Thomas, Gavin Tonge and Tonito Willett.