PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – A full house is expected to watch hosts Trinidad and Tobago launch the defence of their Caribbean Twenty20 title when the championship bowls off here tonight.
Organisers said yesterday ticket sales had picked up rapidly over the last two days and over 20 000 are now expected to swell Queen’s Park Oval for the opening 8 pm encounter against archrivals Jamaica.
Last year, T&T trounced Jamaica in the final at Kensington Oval in Barbados to win the 2012 edition.
The hosts are expected to be welcomed by a fever pitch atmosphere and yesterday captain Denesh Ramdin said this would be a huge boost for the side and it chased their third consecutive CT20 title.
“It’s really great to hear that tickets are almost sold out for the first match. We can expect a full house when we take on Jamaica tomorrow,” the West Indies wicketkeeper said.
“Playing at home is always great for us and we enjoy the feeling of being in front our supporters. This is the kind of occasion we dream of and we will look to get off to winning start tomorrow night (Sunday night). It will be a fantastic atmosphere.
“The goal is to win the tournament again. We are trying to focus on our team. We have a fantastic bunch of players – some who won the World T20 for West Indies in Sri Lanka last year as well as have dominated T20 cricket all over the world.”
Trinidad’s charge will be led by international T20 star Kieron Pollard who will miss the curtain raiser today but who will arrive tomorrow for the rest of the team’s campaign in the January 6-20 tournament.
He has been plying his trade for Adelaide Strikers in the Australia Big Bash along with off-spinner Sunil Narine who has already returned and should be in the final XI today.
Trinidad will field all their international stars with exciting all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, his stylish left-handed brother Darren, opener Lendl Simmons and leg-spinner Samuel Badree, all down to play.
Ramdin said he was aware T&T would be the target of every other team but said his charges would be focussed on playing tough cricket.
“We have won this tournament two years in a row and we want to win it again. As the defending champs we know everyone will be gunning for us, but we have our plans and will look to execute properly,” Ramdin explained.
“We start against Jamaica and we have set out how we want to go against them. We will come at them hard. We will be focussing on what we have to do as a team to win and take it from there.
“Everyone has been really involved. We had one warm-up game against the Windwards to see where we’re at as a team and we managed to come away with a smart victory. In T20 you just need one guy to go out and play a big knock and win it for you … so I have to say everything is going well.”
Jamaica, meanwhile, will be without their big name stars Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels both of whom are still playing in the Australia Big Bash.
Six teams – Jamaica, Windwards, Leeward Islands, Barbados, Guyana and Combined Campuses and Colleges – will battle T&T for the title. For the first time, the opening round will be played on a round-robin basis, with the second and third placed sides clashing for a place in the final against the first placed team.
From January 15, the remaining matches in the preliminary round will be played at the Beausejour Cricket Stadium in St Lucia, and will be followed by the playoffs and final.
Today’s opening ceremony at 5 pm will see the parade of teams and will also feature top local soca star Kess.
