The national cricketers of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) were told to put a hold on celebrations until they finished the job of winning the Caribbean T20 tournament.
This is according to manager of the T&T team Omar Khan.
T&T defeated Jamaica in the semi-finals of the tournament and played English champions Hampshire Royals in the finals Sunday night. They then defeated Hampshire by 36 runs.
In reaching the final, T&T had already qualified for this year’s Airtel Champions League tournament to be held in India based on the fact they were the best placed team among the Caribbean nations at this year’s tournament.
However, with US62, 500 at stake for winning the finals, the team toned down its celebrations and remained focussed ahead of the final clash. According to Khan:”We had a good time on the field at the end of the Jamaica game and also we spent about an hour in the dressing room celebrating but that was it. I told the guys the job is not finished and we must finish off Hampshire and then I would have nothing to tell them.”
Khan added that the boys went back to the Golden Sands Hotel and they retired to bed around 1am.
Meanwhile, captain of the team Daren Ganga said he was overjoyed by the triumph. “We really worked hard for this success and we are proud of our efforts. We still have the job to complete in defeating Hampshire in the finals and we are going to come hard at them.
“Since last year, when we lost that semi-final to Guyana the boys have been anxious to repay the fans and we did that tonight. The boys are really happy at the moment and it shows how hard work pays off.
“Man to man we know what playing in the Champions League meant to our cricket and we are happy to have a crack at it again. I want to thank all the members of my team for their excellent work and this victory is even sweeter given the fact that we did not play with our full strength team.”
Missing out on the tournament were Keiron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo who opted to play in the Australian Big Bash.
T&T went into the finals Sunday night as the only unbeaten team in the tournament. They finished the prelims with three wins and a no-result and defeated Jamaica in the semis.T&T played at the inaugural Champions League tournament in 2009.
