PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Champions League runners-up Trinidad and Tobago will arrive home tonight after their sturdy performance in India and are forced to make a quick transition to the WICB President’s Cup in Guyana.
The team which left India yesterday should arrive in Barbados this afternoon for a connecting flight home.
The Ministry of Sport has planned a welcome home reception for the team but president of the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) Deryck Murray has asked government officials to keep the welcoming function brief so that the players can get home as soon as possible.
The players are required to be back at the airport tomorrow morning at 5:00 am to go to Guyana for the WICB President’s Cup, starting Wednesday.
“This is a very hectic so the plan is to get the Ministry of Sport to keep the welcoming function as quickly as possible. It is a great gesture by the Ministry of Sport to host this welcoming function and we are of course very happy with the move.
“However, we will be trying our best to get the players out the airport as quickly as possible,” Murray said.
T&T will go into action in the WICB regional President’s Cup tournament on Wednesday, when they take on Jamaica at Providence.
From their Champions League squad, T&T have dropped all-rounder Rayad Emrit and off-spinner Sunil Narine and included leg-spinner Imran Khan.
Emrit and Narine were the only members of the T&T T20 team in India who did not play in any of the matches in India where T&T lost the CLT20 final to News South Wales and pocketed the US$1.3 million runner-up prize.
T&T are defending President’s Cup champions and although they face jet lag and a tough opener on Wednesday, team manager Colin Borde said they are professionals and will be ready for action.
“We are a very professional outfit and the boys although tired will be giving it their best shot. After our wonderful performance in the Champions League we will not want to fail in this tournament.
“Our opponents in the opening game are a very good team and a number of their players are actually on the West Indies cricket team. However, having said that our guys have shown that they can stand up to some of the top players in the world and still come through on top.”
In the meantime, team officials have declared that there are travel complications hampering the timely arrival of all players for Wednesday’s opener.
Forbes Persaud, the TTCB’s chief executive officer, disclosed that the board was still trying to get ticket confirmation for the players and said the squad may return in two batches.
T&T SQUAD: Daren Ganga (captain), Adrian Barath, William Perkins, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Dave Mohammed, Navin Stewart, Samuel Badree, Imran Khan, Sherwin Ganga.