Four-Day cricket returns to south Trinidad

UPDATED:

Guaracara Park in Pointe-a-Pierre has been the venue for memorable matches in the Regional Four-Day cricket in the past, but from 10 am today, four-day cricket will debut at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) in Tarouba. The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force play Jamaica Scorpions in round two of the 2017 edition.

Red Force captain Denesh Ramdin and vice-captain Marlon Richards are looking forward to playing in south Trinidad again. In the past, Guaracara Park hosted four-day matches in front of huge crowds, and Ramdin is hoping the fans will turn up in their numbers once more.

“It is always a great atmosphere in south, the CPL final was fantastic here and we got the support. At Guaracara Park as well, the south people always come out and watch the cricket and hopefully we could get a good crowd probably on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” he said.

Richards is also anticipating the return of cricket to south. “It will really be nice to bring four-day cricket back to the southland because the southland has been a breeding ground for a lot of cricketers in the past,” Richards said.

“To bring the cricket back to south and have the fans come back (will be great). Having the match here, we expect to see the same support, the same enthusiasm and the same energy,” Richards said.

The TT batting line-up will be boosted with the return of left-handed Yannic Cariah from West Indies ‘A’ duty. Cariah replaces Akiel Cooper in the 13-man squad.

The Scorpions are coming off a crushing 263-run defeat to Guyana Jaguars in round one. Ramdin said his team will try to put more pressure on the inexperienced Jamaica team.

“Most of the senior players are out on ‘A’ team and West Indies duty, so hopefully the younger players that they have, we could expose them early o’clock with the new ball along with the middle and lower order. If we get to bat first we will look to put pressure on them by putting runs on the board and try to skittle them out.”

Scorpions will be without a number of players including Jermaine Blackwood (West Indies duty), John Campbell (West Indies ‘A’ duty), Andre McCarthy (West Indies ‘A’ duty) and Chadwick Walton (Bangladesh T20 tournament ).

TT SQUAD: Denesh Ramdin (captain), Marlon Richards (vice-captain), Amir Jangoo, Jeremy Solozano, Isaiah Rajah, Ewart Nicholson, Tion Webster, Roshon Primus, Imran Khan, Daniel St Clair, Bryan Charles, Khary Pierre, Yannic Cariah

ORIGINAL STORY:

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force captain Denesh Ramdin and vice-captain Marlon Richards are looking forward to playing four-day cricket in south Trinidad again.

The Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) in Tarouba will host regional four-day cricket for the first time, when the Red Force play Jamaica Scorpions in round two of the Regional Four-Day from tomorrow until Sunday.

In the past, Guaracara Park in Pointe-a-Pierre hosted four-day matches in front of huge crowds and the pair is hoping the cricket fans in south will turn up in their numbers.

Read the full story in tomorrow's Newsday