T&T Red Steel skipper Dwayne Bravo is hoping for a full game without any interruption for rain when his team looks to get their campaign back on track against the Barbados Tridents in the 2015 Hero CPL T20 tournament at the Queen's Park Oval.
The Red Steel suffered a heartbreaking loss to the St Lucia Zouks on Tuesday night after rain reduced their encounter to a nine-over affair. Batting first, the Red Steel made 90 for four and Zouks requiring 17 runs from the last over bowled by Bravo, got home at 91 for six to claim the vital two points.
According to Bravo: "Whenever you have a game that is interrupted by rain the team batting first is always at a dis-advantage because whatever score you post, they have all ten wickets to chase that down and of course the target would not be that big.
"We batted first and I thought that the 90 we made was good enough but in the end they held the pressure well and went on to win. Bravo conceded ten runs and then got a wicket. It came to seven runs needed from two balls and New Zealander Ross Taylor smashed Bravo into the Carib Stand for six. "It was a team decision for me the end the game by bowling the last over. When they required seven runs from two balls, we decided that the yorker was the better ball to bowl. It did not work out and thinking about it now, I should have gone for the slower ball."
It is now history that the Red Steel lost and is now five points from five matches and firmly planted at the bottom of the standings. "We still have four games to go and we need to win them. We come again against the Tridents and the guys will be going out there to fight for the fans. We are not out of this tournament and the guys are playing better and better. I hope that we can get a full game against the Tridents, so that we have a good chance of winning the match."
Tridents led by T&T's Keiron Pollard is at the top of the standings on ten points and with a foot already in the knockout phase they know that a win today will put them into that phase directly.
The game which is again expected to attract a big crowd, starts at 6 pm.
TEAMS
T&T Red Steel: Dwayne Bravo (capt), William Perkins, Cameron Delport, Kamran Akmal, Jacques Kallis, Yohan Botha, Darren Bravo, Samuel Badree, Derone Davis, Miguel Cummins, Javon Searles, Jason Mohammed, Samuel Badree, Sulieman Benn, Mark Deyal, Kevon Cooper. Head coach Simon Helmot, assistants David Williams and Imran Jan.
Tridents: Keiron Pollard (capt), Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Ashley Nurse, Dilshan Munaweera, Dwayne Smith, Jason Holder, Misbah ul Haq, Jonathan Carter, Kyle Corbin, Navin Stewart, Ravi Rampaul, Rayad Emrit and Robin Petersen.