PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC- All-rounder Rayad Emrit says Trinidad and Tobago players rekindled their fire on the back of a series of poor performances, to secure a place in the finals of the regional four-day tournament.
The Trinidadians bounced back to stun champions Jamaica by three wickets to reach the finals on Sunday after suffering heavy losses in back to back encounters earlier.
Emrit, T&T’s leading wicket-taker in the 2013 four-day tournament with 20, said that the players use the experiences of the losses to lift their game.
“After losing the Super50 semi-finals where we humiliated ourselves, we knew that we failed them back home,” said Emrit.
“We know that we had a lot of support. We heard the comments people were making about our performances and we knew that we are a far better team than the performance in the semi-final would suggest”.
Trinidad and Tobago’s semi-final victory over Jamaica has been described as one of the biggest upsets of the season given their previous loss to the Jamaicans, also at Sabina Park insidef three days during the round robin phase, followed by a defeat to Barbados in two days at Queen’s Park Oval.
T&T were also trounced at the hands of the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) in the Super50 semi at Kensington Oval.
“We are a team with big heart and we kept reminding ourselves about that,” said Emrit.
“We are a better team than what we showed throughout the season, and I think that motivated us. Some of the guys kept reminding us who were there back in 2011 when Jamaica made us field for two and a half days, so there was a lot of motivation,”
Trinidad and Tobago, who have recalled out-of-form opener Adrian Barath, will play Barbados in the Regional Four-Day final starting in Bridgetown today.
