Bravo leads T&T squad in Super50

A very strong T&T outfit will oppose Guyana today, looking for their third straight Super50 when the teams square up in their day-night clash starting at 2 pm at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain.

With regular skipper Denesh Ramdin off to Barbados for Test play against Zimbabwe, the experienced Dwayne Bravo takes the helm. Bravo, fresh from leading the West Indies to a 3-0 series sweep against Zimbabwe, will be looking to continue his winning ways.

He would have in his line-up one of the most dangerous batsmen in instant cricket in Keiron Pollard. The burly Pollard warmed-up nicely for this clash by slamming a hurricane 54 not out off 29 balls against the same opponents in the First Class fixture on the weekend.

Also in the mix, is Sunil Narine who claimed 10 wickets on the weekend. Spin twin Samuel Badree returns to accompany him in attack. At the top of the order will be West Indies players Adrian Barath and Lendl Simmons and if that was not enough worry for the visitors, the globe trotting T20 specialist Kevon Cooper will also be available.

T&T have defeated the Windwards and the Leewards in this tournament thus far and will begin as favourites.

The Guyanese will be without their main batsman in Shivnarine Chanderpaul who will be off to play against Zimbabwe. They are further depleted by the loss of skipper Verasammy Permaul and Narsingh Deonarine, also on that flight with Chanderpaul to Barbados.

Manager of the T&T team Omar Khan thinks his team is peaking at a critical stage in both regional tournaments being played side by side.

“The win on the weekend has given the guys that added confidence that they are capable of winning in the longer format. However, they are much more at home in the 50 overs tournament and will be out there looking to dominate against Guyana tomorrow.

“We are in a much better position than the Guyanese because we have lost fewer players for this clash. We still have all our limited overs stars and this is great.”

Yesterday, most of the players took the day off for some much needed rest after four days in the sun against Guyana. According to Khan, only the players who did not play in the four-day game have been sent to represent their various clubs in the domestic tournament. Justin Guillen and Kevon Cooper are playing with Queen’s Park, while Evin Lewis and Samuel Badree are playing with PowerGen. Yannick Ottley is playing with Moosai, while Yannic Cariah was expected home last night after playing for the HPC against Zimbabwe on the weekend.

Meanwhile, the gates at the Oval would open at noon and chief executive officer of the T&T Cricket Board Suruj Ragoonath said tickets will cost $40.

T&T : Adrian Barath, Lendl Simmons, Justin Guillen, Dwayne Bravo (Captain), Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran(Wkt-Keeper), Yannic Cariah, Sunil Narine, KhesanYannick Ottley, Rayad Emrit, Evin Lewis, Samuel Badree and Kevon Cooper.

Guyana : Christopher Barnwell (Captain),Rajendra Chandrika, Trevon Griffith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Leon Johnson, Assad Fudadin, Steven Jacobs, Derwin Christian, Zaheer Mohamed, Devendra Bishoo, Ronsford Beaton, Paul Wintz and Ricardo Adams.