Full strength Red Force for charity T20

UPDATED STORY:

A powerful Red Force squads has been named for the highly anticipated hurricane relief T20 against a Caribbean All-Star XI set for October 14 at 7pm at the Queen’s Park Oval, St Clair. Since the Caribbean T20 Tournament was disbanded in January 2013 and replaced by the Caribbean Premier League, this country;’s players have been scattered across the region playing for different franchises. Fans have longed to see the Red Force return and their wishes have come through.

The Red Force will be captained by Kieron Pollard while St Lucian and former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy is in charge of the Caribbean All-Star XI.

Organisers are hoping to raise at least $1 million to aid countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and St Martin who have been ravaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Bins will also be placed on game-day at the Oval for fans to donate canned foods and clothing.

Pollard, speaking to Newsday yesterday, said it was a bit nostalgic to see this country’s T20 stars back on the same team again.

“I think it’s a great feeling. I’m sure the guys are looking forward to playing together as one again. It’s been a long while since that has happened. We have played (for TT recently), couple guys haven’t played for various reasons, obviously we’re looking forward to it. It’s a charity game but it’s great to see an almost full strength Red Force team taking on a Caribbean XI,” he said.

Pollard said it was easy to assemble the squad as they’ve enjoy a great relationship over the years,

“I think it was a joint effort. Obviously we are a close knit bunch of guys. We play cricket around the world but have close friendships. We know each other well so it wasn’t hard to recruit the guys. Initially being told about it and just mentioning it to them, they were always up for it. I don’t want to take any credit for bringing them together but the senior group of Trinidad and Tobago cricketers are very close knit.”

The Mumbai Indians star urged the public to pack the Oval next weekend.

“Come out and support not only cricket and guys who have done well and made the nation proud, but come out and support a good worthy cause. The people of Dominica have gone through a tumultuous time, they have gone through devastation. We can only think and feel how they are feeling but we’ve had nothing like that. Come out with you and your family, It’s just $100 per person, it’s for our Caribbean brothers and sisters,” he said.

Tickets are available at all NLCB outlets and priced at $100 with children under 12 free once accompanied by a paying adult.

SQUADS

Red Force: Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Nicholas Pooran, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree, Ravi Rampaul, Kevon Cooper, Rayad Emrit, Jason Mohammed and Shannon Gabriel.

Caribbean All Stars: Dwayne Smith (Barbados), Johnson Charles (St Lucia), Andre Fletcher (Grenada), Chadwick Walton (Jamaica), Andre Mc Carthy (Jamaica), Rovman Powell (Jamaica), Daren Sammy (St Lucia), Ashley Nurse (Barbados), Sulieman Benn (Barbados), Kesrick Williams (St Vincent), Fidel Edwards (Barbados), Jerome Taylor (Jamaica), Shane Shillingford (Dominica) and Yohan Blake (Jamaica).