Ganga says T&T has talent to claim Champions League

MEMBERS of the Trinidad and Tobago cricket team received a warm send-off at the La Boucan Room of the Hilton Trinidad yesterday, before they wing out for India to compete in the ICC Champions league Twenty20 Championship.

The Telecommunications Service of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) has outfitted the players with phones to keep in contact with friends and family back home during the duration of the tournament.

TSTT’s Media Relation’s Manager Graeme Suite said his company views the championship as being equivalent to a cricket World Cup and therefore the players, management staff and the coaches were all given mobiles.

Trinidad and Tobago are grouped with English champions Somerset and the current holders of the IPL Trophy — the Deccan Chargers. The TT team which will be led by Daren Ganga will open their campaign against Somerset, October 12 and will take on the Deccan Chargers two days later (October 14) as they attempt to finish among the top two teams in order to advance to the next round.

Yesterday Ganga thanked TSTT for its assistance and later said he was optimistic of winning the championship, saying that the team will go out to do just that.

Ganga said that following a three-month preparation period the team was ready for the competition, despite the challenge of playing away from home. The text-book style batsman added further that he is extremely confident his players had the talent to pull off an historic victory.

Yesterday the players had their final trial match at the National Cricket Centre (NCC) in Balmain, Couva.

The team will leave on Sunday for the October 8-23 championship and national coach Kelvin Williams said that he is satisfied with the progress made by the team to date. “In the earlies I felt that we were lacking motivation in the team but the players have shown tremendous improvement so far,” said Williams.

Williams is hoping to make a bold statement on the international stage so that TT cricket will be exposed worldwide.

“Yes we are aiming to make a statement but we will also use the championship as a yardstick to measure where they are against some of the top teams in the world,” Williams said.

The coach also relished the opportunity to expose the young players on the international stage which he feels will auger well for TT cricket.

He singled out brothers Dwayne and Darren Bravo, hard-hitting Keiron Pollard, Lendl Simmons and fast bowler Ravi Rampaul who are expected to play lead roles in the team, if it is to do well.

Walter Alibey
T&T Newsday