T&T cricketers who are preparing to successfully defend their Caribbean T20 Championship title early next month will get some much needed practice this weekend.
Following the cancellation of a proposed short series against Canada, the national cricketers will play two T20 practice matches against Queen's Park Cricket Club at the Oval in Port-of-Spain.
The matches are today and tomorrow from 8 to 11 pm each night.
With the exception of top players who are currently playing in the Australian Big Bash T20 League, the leading home-based cricketers will be in action sharpening their skills for the regional tournament which gets underway in T&T on Sunday, January 6.
T&T play Jamaica in the opening match at 8 pm at the Queen's Park Oval. The second phase of the tournament will be staged in St Lucia from January 15.
For the practice matches this weekend, T&T will be led by their captain Denesh Ramdin who recently represented the West Indies with distinction during their two-Test series against Bangladesh in the Indian subcontinent.
The national team will also have the services of opening batsman Lendl Simmons, all-rounder Samuel Badree, middle-order batsman Jason Mohammed, hard-hitting William Perkins and promising batsman Evin Lewis.
Queen's Park, triple-crowned champions for the past two seasons in the T&T Cricket Board competitions will be led by their left-handed opening batsman Justin Guillen who will be hoping to have the Bravo brothers-Dwayne and Darren in their line-up.
The T&TCB is hoping that cricket fans will show up in their large numbers to cheer on the national team in anticipation of another successful campaign in the regional T20 tournament. And admission is free.
T&T Team: Denesh Ramdin (Captain), Lendl Simmons, William Perkins, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Kevon Cooper, Yannick Ottley, Samuel Badree, Shannon Gabriel, Sherwin Ganga, Rayad Emrit, Kjorn Ottley, Ancil Bhagan, Nicholas Pooran