The selection committee of the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) has decided to challenge for the 2021 CG Insurance Super50 Cup in the regional cricket tournament next month with a very experienced team which will be led by the hard-hitting allrounder Kieron Pollard as captain.
The TTCB selection headed by chairman Rajendra Mangalie and comprising Mahadeo Bodoe and Richard Kelly Jr also appointed elegant middle-order batsman Darren Bravo as vice-captain.
The squad is composed of several very experienced campaigners in the white-ball format of the game like Jason Mohammed, Nicholas Pooran, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, and Imran Khan, while Jayden Seales, Anderson and Kjorn Ottley are three talented youngsters who have been showing great promise and have also done well in the practice matches which was used to make the final selection.
From the 22 that did not make the cut were veteran player Rayad Emrit and the talented Yannic Cariah, Jyd Goolie and Tion Webster who showed form during the practice matches with centuries, together with Isiah Rajah, Mark Deyal and Terrance Hinds, will have to wait a little longer.
Head coach David Furlonge expressed satisfaction with the squad that was selected but said as the tournament nears he won't have his full team to practice with.
He told Guardian Media Sports on Saturday, "A strong team has been selected and the team is going to gather for its first practice session next Tuesday. We are going to practice most of the days next week. Unfortunately, we have some players that will be going off to Dubai and some players are currently in Bangladesh with the West Indies team so with the balance of the players here we will have some intense practice sessions with them to get them ready for the tournament."
Furlonge was also satisfied with the competition the players gave for places on the team, adding: "We’ve seen some good individual performances. We saw today (Saturday) Isaiah Rajah getting a hundred and Tion Webster continuing with his form. Both Kieron Pollard and Evin Lewis got some runs as well so I would say the individual performances have improved as the practice matches have gone on."
Meanwhile, former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, the older brother, Darren, who announced his international retirement in October 2018, has been appointed as the team's mentor.
The senior Bravo, 37, has been training with the team since December keeping himself fit after he came out of retirement in 2019 to play international T20s only and represent West Indies again in the shortest format.
The Red Force was a semi-finalist under coach Mervyn Dillon in the 2019 tournament which was staged in T&T and won by the West Indies Emerging Stars team, while there was no Super50 Cup tournament last year because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Coach of the national team is Furlonge while Sebastian Edwards is the manager.
The team will continue practice on Tuesday and Thursday before it departs T&T on January 26 for the February 7 to 27 regional tournament that will be played in Antigua & Barbuda.
Red Force Squad
Kieron Pollard (Captain), Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, Jason Mohammed, Darren Bravo (Vice-captain), Nicholas Pooran, Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin, Imran Khan, Akeal Hosein, Ravi Rampaul, Jayden Seales, Kjorn Ottley, Anderson Phillip and Khary Pierre.
David Furlonge (Coach), Sebastian Edwards (Manager), Lyndon Knights (Physiotherapist), Clinton Jeremiah (Trainer) and Kelly Sankar (Masseur).