West Indies batsman Darren Bravo has been appointed captain of the T&T Red Force team for the first match of the 2020 Cricket West Indies Four-Day Tournament starting tomorrow at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba.
Bravo will lead the Red Force into battle against the Jamaica Scorpions in the absence of regular captain, wicket-keeper/batsman Denesh Ramdin, who is serving a two-match ban in the competition. Yannick Ottley will act as Bravo’s vice-captain.
Bravo, who did not feature for the Red Force last season, is fresh from leading the CWI President’s XI to a victory over visiting Ireland in a warm-up fixture at Cave Hill in Barbados on January 4.
For tomorrow’s clash with Jamaica, the left-handed batsman will be in charge of a young but promising bunch, which includes some of the competition’s top performers from last season.
Opener Jeremy Solozano is hoping to match or even better his overall performance from last season when T&T finished fourth. During that effort, Solozano scored 572 runs in ten matches and was eighth overall on the list of top run-scorers. The 25-year-old left-hander lashed two centuries, including a best score of 104 to go along with two fifties in the competition, averaging 28.60.
Veteran off-spinner Imran Khan will once again spearhead T&T’s bowling and will be called upon heavily, especially in the absence of another top-ten performer from last season Anderson Phillip, who has also been left out for Thursday’s season-opener. Last season, Khan ended third on the wicket-takers’ list after copping 42 wickets from 10 matches at an average of 22.47.
T&T Red Force Squad: Jeremy Solozano, Kyle Hope, Darren Bravo (capt), Isaiah Rajah, Joshua Da Silva, Yannick Ottley, Yannic Cariah, Akeal Hosein, Imran Khan, Terrance Hinds, Uthman Muhammed, Odean Smith, Bryan Charles, Keagan Simmons; Mervyn Dillon (coach), David Furlonge (manager), Lyndon Knights (physio).