Finally, after 11 days of action, the 36th West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) one-day tournament, which started in 1976, will see pre-tournament favourites Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica clash in today’s final, a day/night encounter at the Providence Stadium.
The premier Caribbean limited overs tourney has had many name changes over the years such as the Geddes Grant Cup, Geddes Grant Shield, Red Stripe Bowl, Shell Sandals Trophy and KFC Cup, before settling on the “Regional Super50” tag this year.
It has also had many champions.
The Daren Ganga led Caribbean Twenty20 Champions Trinidad and Tobago, will look to secure their 11th regional title while the Jamaicans have been the undisputed number one first-class team in recent times.
They won the Regional four day tournament for the fourth straight season earlier this year and will be looking to secure the domestic double – and their first regional 50-overs title since 2007, when they toppled Trinidad by 28 runs, in that Three W’s Oval Final. Both teams progressed to today’s final with contrasting semi-final victories.
Trinidad overcame arch-rivals and tournament hosts Guyana in a close semi-final while Jamaica barely scraped into the final at the expense of the Sagicor High Performance Center with Chris Gayle’s side pushed to the limit by some disciplined bowling from the academy youngsters, in pursuit of a modest target of 177.
Although Trinidad defeated Jamaica in the group stages, on paper the teams still are very evenly matched and the conditions at Providence will require disciplined cricket to win as the aforementioned semi-final results showed.
With the playing surface at Providence expected to be a slow turner, both sides have the spin armoury to make run scoring for each other a difficult task.
Trinidad, affectionately known as the Red Fury, will hope the ever impressive mystery off-spinner Sunil Narine, who has brought the form that impressed the world during the Nokia Champions League with him to the Regional Super 50 tournament.
He is the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 14 wickets at an average of 10.42 and is agaisn expected to be their trump card.
Simulateneously, the boys from the “Land of Wood and Water,” will bank on their duo of left-arm spinner Nikita Miller and leg-spinner Odean Brown who both have claimed seven (7) wickets each at 13.42 and 18.00 a piece to again be amongst the wickets. Those two, will be supported by left-arm swing bowler Krishmar Santokie who has led the team’s attack manfully in the absence of Jerome Taylor, with his clever variations of pace, which has propelled him to the top of the charts as the competition’s leading leading quick bowler, with nine wickets at an average of 16.00.
Potential changes can be expected from both teams.
Trinidad may look to bring in spin bowling all-rounder Imran Khan in place left-arm chinaman bowler Dave Mohammed to boost the batting which has looked vulnerable, since Kieron Pollard was ruled out of tournament with a shoulder injury during the group stages.
Danza Hyatt, if he recovers from his shoulder injury, will likely return for Jamaica and the possibility lies that Jerome Taylor could make a surprise appearance in the final.
When Stabroek Sport spoke to Taylor during his team’s net session on Wednesday, he said that he had a 80% chance of appearing in the semi-final although he eventually did not play. So if he is fit, it will be interesting to see whether Jamaica will tinker with their line-up to accommodate him.
Squads:
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO (from): Daren Ganga (captain), Samuel Badree, Dwayne Bravo, Kevon Cooper, Rayad Emrit, Sherwin Ganga, Justin Guillen, Stephen Katwaroo, Imran Khan, Evin Lewis, Dave Mohammed, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, William Perkins
JAMAICA: Chris Gayle (captain), Jermaine Blackwood, Odean Brown, Elliott, Shawn Findlay, Danza Hyatt, Tamar Lambert, Kennar Lewis, Xavier Marshall, Nikita Miller, Andre Russell, Krishmar Santokie, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton
UMPIRES: Gregory Brathwaite, Nigel Duguid
TV UMPIRE: Goaland Greaves
MATCH REFEREE: Adrian Griffith
RESERVE UMPIRE: Lennox Abraham
