Red Force players ready for any challenge says coach

MEMBERS of the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force are ready for any challenge which they will face during the 2018 Cricket West Indies (CWI) Super50 Cup, which will start tomorrow and run until October 28.

So said Kelvin Williams, coach of the Red Force, during a telephone interview yesterday.

Group A will be staged at two venues in Trinidad – the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair and the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba.

The Red Force will meet defending champions Windward Islands Volcanoes tomorrow at the Queen’s Park Oval while the West Indies B will oppose Canada at Tarouba. Both matches will bowl off at 2 pm.

“Everybody’s in good spirits,” said Williams. “It’s exciting having all those international players back on the Red Force side, after a long absence. We’re ready for any challenge. We look good on paper therefore the expectation that we need to play the game to win it.”

Making their return to the Red Force team are the Bravo brothers Dwayne and Darren, Sunil Narine, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul and Kieron Pollard. Denesh Ramdin will remain as captain with Dwayne Bravo as his deputy.

Williams added, “You have Pollard, Simmo, Rayad (Emrit) all of them. There is leadership and experience there so that is quite good.”

The weather over the past week has played a part in the team’s training sessions.

“The weather has played a big part in it because we hardly get to go outside,” said the former national all-rounder. “We had a fantastic training session (yesterday) morning at the Queen’s Park Oval and I’m hoping that we get good weather to hopefully continue that (today) at the (National) Cricket Centre.”

Despite the inconsistent weather patterns, Williams is hopeful that the fans turn up in their numbers to see the Red Force in action. “We’re all playing for the spectators, because of the nature of the players that we have for the 2018 Super Cup,” Williams noted. “They, themselves, are excited to play together again as a unit because they’ve all been with this side before.”

Tion Webster is expected to replace Evin Lewis during this Super50 Cup as the left-handed opener will be in India with the West Indies’ limited-overs squads.

Asked if Lewis’ departure will affect the balance of the team, Williams replied, “Webster is a top-order batsman in the shorter versions of the game. We also have Kyle Hope in there.”

Matches will be played every two days, and Williams is mindful that players may suffer fatigue during the course of the month-long event.

But he pointed out, “The burn-out has been for years. It’s something we have to make sure that the guys are fit enough. They know that, they know themselves.”

TT Red Force squad – Denesh Ramdin (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice-captain), Evin Lewis, Kyle Hope, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Sunil Narine, Khary Pierre, Imran Khan, Ravi Rampaul, Jason Mohammed, Lendl Simmons, Rayad Emrit.