Former national cricket captain Daren Ganga was not selected for the first match of the 2012 regional First Class tournament against the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) at the Three Ws Oval in Barbados, starting next Friday. According to chief selector Dudnath Ramkessoon, Ganga is not fully fit to take up his position on the team at present. Ramkessoon said Ganga saw his doctor for an injured back. "Most likely he will be playing in the domestic league this weekend in a bid to get back to full fitness in time for the other matches," Ramkessoon said. Also missing out due to injury is fast bowler Ravi Rampaul. "Ravi has an injured ankle so he is out of this game. We have a bye for the next round, which gives him time to recuperate and hopefully he would be ready for our next match to lead the bowling line-up." Nine players from the winning Caribbean T20 squad are retained for the match. Those joining the team include all-rounder Yannic Cariah and Ramkessoon believes he can make an impact this season. "Young Yannic has been around and did play very well when given the chance to represent the team last year. We are looking forward to a good season from him," he said."
While spinner Cariah comes in, the experienced Amit Jaggernauth finds himself out in the cold. Leading the slow bowling attack will be the highly successful Sunil Narine, who has made an impact in all three formats of the game regionally. Coming in to replace Rampaul is Atiba Allert, while the pacey Shannon Gabriel will lead the fast bowling attack. Genuine all-rounder Imran Khan returns after another successful year and Ramkessoon wants more of the same this time around. "Imran has had successful since he started playing First Class cricket for T&T and we are hoping he can continue in that way, as we see him as a big part of this team." Ramkessoon thinks this squad will do the country proud. "I think that this team will do T&T proud. It is the best possible team we could have chosen, given the resources available to us and we are confident they will do well. He added: "There are a number of players in there, that represented the country in the recently concluded Regional T20 champions, and one hopes that they could make a quick adjustment to the four-day game. "We are looking to win this tournament this year. The four-day title has eluded us for a while but we are determined to build on our T20 success."
T&T team: Denesh Ramdin (captain), Rayad Emrit, Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard, Adrian Barath, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Imran Khan, Darren Bravo, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Mohammed, Atiba Allert and Yannic Cariah. Omar Khan, manager, Kelvin Williams, coach, Oba Gulston, physio and Ronald Rogers, trainer.