The management of the national senior team has called on the batsmen to give a better account of themselves as they go into action against Jamaica in their fifth match of the Regional Super50 tournament at Sabina Park, today.
After being humbled by the hosts in the Regional Four-day clash on the weekend, the Red Force will look to exact revenge in the shorter form of the game, where they have shown their proficiency.
While the team practised at Sabina Park yesterday, the batsmen were in focus as coach David Williams paid very close attention to them. He had the main batsmen in for longer periods at the nets.
Manager of the team Omar Khan said the batsmen have been spoken to and it was getting a bit frustrating that they continued to give away their hand when well set.
"We have spoken to the batsmen time and time again about consistent batting yet we still have this problem. The season is well advanced yet these guys are still making the same mistakes over and over again. The bowlers have been fantastic yet our record has not been because of the fact that the batsmen for the most part have not come up to scratch.
"They have taken ownership of the fact that they have failed the team but this is not enough, we need them to go out there and really put their heads down and get the runs on the board."
The team has been bolstered by the return of the in form PowerGen all rounder Sherwin Ganga. The left-hander, who is yet to play for T&T this season, has been among the runs in the domestic league. He replaces Amit Jaggernauth on the team, while all-rounder Teshawn Castro comes in for Kavesh Kantasingh.
"We are in the semifinals of both tournaments and if the guys can pick themselves up we can have a tremendous end to the season."
T&T has already won the Regional T20 tournament and would love to add the Super50 and the First Class to that crown.
Jamaica is at the top of the standings with 19 points from four wins, while T&T is second with 17 points from four wins. If T&T wins today, they will take over the lead at the top of the standings and with just one match to play against Barbados at home on Sunday, they will more than likely play the fourth place team in the semifinals.
Barbados are currently third in the standings and the Red Force will try to avoid a second place finish so that they would not have to face the Bajans in the semifinals, which will be played at Kensington Oval in Barbados.
Meanwhile, the national players will observe a minute's silence before the game today as a mark of respect for the recent passing of former administrative manager of the TTCB Rambhai Patel, who died on Monday.
The match gets going at 10.30 am T&T time.
Also today, Barbados meets Leeward Islands while Guyana plays Combined Campuses & Colleges (CCC).
Squad
T&T: Adrian Barath, Lendl Simmons, Kjorn Ottley, Jason Mohammed, Denesh Ramdin, Sherwin Ganga, Rayad Emrit, Yannic Cariah, Khesan Yannick Ottley, Marlon Richards, Shannon Gabriel, Imran Khan, Teshawn Castro. Manager�Omar Khan, Coach�David Williams.
Jamaica: Carlton Baugh, David Bernard, Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Odean Brown, Sheldon Cotterrell, Yannick Elliott, Zeniffe Fowler, Simon Jackson, Tamar Lambert, Andre McCarthy, Nikita Miller and Andrew Richardson.
STANDINGS
Teams-Mat-Won-Lost-
Tied-N/R-Pts-Net RR
Jamaica-4-4-0-0-0-19-+1.160
T&T-4-4-0-0-0-17-+0.916
Barbados-4-2-2-0-0-10-+0.290
CCC-5-2-3-0-0-10--0.018
Windward Is-5-2-3-0-0-8--0.643
Guyana-4-1-3-0-0-4-0.585
Leeward Is-4-0-4-0-0-0--0.868?