PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC-Trinidad and Tobago coach David Williams says his players are in a better frame of mind as they prepare to take on champions Jamaica in a semi-final match of the Regional four-day tournament tomorrow.
The Trinidadians were due to arrive in Jamaica yesterday and will play for a spot in the finals and redemption following a series of disastrous performances in regional cricket.
Their preparations also involved sessions with a local pastor whose offerings dealt with being focused, commitment and national pride.
“The little break we had from the Super50 loss to now has done the players a lot of good. They have been able to do some retrospection and also to re-group,” said Williams.
“All in all the players are in the better frame of mind as we leave for Jamaica looking to fight well. We have not been hitting our goals in the batting department and this is what we need to do, in order to win the match.”
Jamaica played unbeaten in the preliminary round, winning their six matches on the trot while Trinidad won three and lost three.
Trinidad are missing most of their front line players, who are either in the Indian Premier League (IPL) or injured.
Ravi Rampaul, Keiron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Kevon Cooper, Samuel Badree and Dwayne Bravo are in India, while classy left hand batsman Darren Bravo remains unavailable as he recovers from minor surgery.
“I believe we are prepared. It is more mental rather than practice (we had to work on). Hopefully we can get our minds in order. The skill level is there.
It is just to have that mental strength to deal with the opposition” said Captain Denesh Ramdin.
“I believe that once the guys spend time in the middle, they will get runs and maybe we can put some pressure on Jamaica”.
The Trinidad and Tobago team includes the new faces of teenage opening batsman Jeremy Solozano and 20-year old all-rounder Akeal Hosein as well as wicketkeeper Steven Katwaroo.
“We don’t have any other opener in the side besides Simmons so he (Solozano) will open the batting alongside Lendl,” said Ramdin.
“He (Solozano) is very enthusiastic and he wants the opportunity and I don’t believe there is anything for him to worry about. It is just for him to enjoy his game”.
The winner will move on to the finals of the competition.
If the match ends in a draw, then the team winning on first innings will go through to the final spot.
