Manohar: Not much tinkering with T&T team

The national team will not make too many changes to the line-up that will face Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) in their must win last round Nagico Super50 encounter tomorrow at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain. The Red Force after falling to Barbados in their first match of the tournament, made two changes to the line-up that whipped the Leewards by five wickets in Tobago on Wednesday. Now that they are back in Trinidad on a different pitch changes are expected but according to manager Manohar Ramsaran, there may not be too many. “I don’t think that there will be too many changes to the team. There might probably be one change going into the final match.”

Opener Adrian Barath, who has struggled for form, may be a casualty for this match and Lendl Simmons might be pushed up the order with Kevon Cooper coming back into the mix. Ramsaran said the team was very confident going into the game and they are expecting to be in the semifinals. “The boys understand that it is do or die for them and they can’t wait for match time to go out there and do the business. “They are all focused on the task ahead, they know what they have to do and they are going to come very hard at the CCC.”

The team practiced at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva yesterday morning and today, they will put in their final work at the Queen’s Park Oval from 1.30 pm. T&T is currently third in Group B with five points, trailing the CCC on seven points and Barbados on six. Barbados plays the Leewards in their final match on Monday and based on current form, they are expected to win that match. This will put them on at least 10 points, which means that whoever wins between the CCC and T&T will be the next team making the semifinal grade. Ramsaran said one very important factor is that all the players are fit, so the selectors will have the full complement to choose from.