T&T looks for perfect finish

Over 300 fans from T&T have arrived in St Lucia to cheer on the Red Force tonight as they bid to become Caribbean T20 champions yet again at the Beausejour Cricket Ground at 8pm tonight.

A chartered flight arrived yesterday with Trini fans and they will serve as the 12th man in the stands tonight. At press time, the battle was on between Jamaica and Guyana for the right to meet T&T in tonight’s title match.

Yesterday, members of the T&T team trained at the Gros Islet playing field in sweltering heat as they prepared with an intensive net session. A lot of focus was on the fielding, as they will be looking to give a better display in the field than what they showed in their last preliminary game against Barbados.

While the team has been inactive in terms of match play for the last three days, manager of the team Omar Khan says they remained sharp and focussed.

“The boys have been working on specific areas of their game over the last few days and the time away from matches has allowed us the time to assesess our game again and see what we need to enhance as we move onto the big game. The coach has stressed a lot on the out cricket and the boys have been drilled in this aspect.”

On the fact that they will only be aware of who they will meet in the finals this morning, Khan said :”Well that’s part of the game, you have to wait sometimes to see who you are coming up against but we have been able to still prepare despite not knowing.

“The team analyst Dinesh Mahabir has provided information on both Guyana and Jamaica and the boys have studied both teams. So either one comes through we will be ready for them.”

Asked if there was a preference as to who T&T plays in the final, Khan said :”We have no preference as to who we meet in the finals. We just have to go out there and battle hard on the night and bring home the title. The boys have to play intelligent cricket and this would be our plan.”

Jamaican master batsman Chris Gayle announced his arrival in the tournament with a smashing 85 against the CCC on Friday but Khan is confident that T&T would tame him if Jamaica comes through to the finals. “If the Jamaicans are in the final, then we will have to deal with Chris Gayle. We have a plan for him and hopefully the bowlers would stick to what we have discussed and keep him down to a low score.'

T&T played unbeaten throughout the preliminaries.

TEAMS M W L N R P

T&T 6 5 0 1 21 +2.695

Jamaica 6 4 1 1 17 -0.087

Guyana 6 4 2 0 16 -0.291

Windwards 6 3 3 0 12 +0.205

Barbados 6 2 4 0 8 +0.174

CCC 6 1 5 0 4 -0.669

Leewards 6 1 5 0 4 -1.597

​