Ramdin set to lead Red Force in Super50

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Discarded West Indies wicketkeeper/batsman, Denesh Ramdin, is poised to lead reigning champions Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in this month’s Super50.

The Newsday here said the 31-year-old had been nominated by the Raphick Jumadeen-led national selection panel to captain the side in the January 24 to February 18 one-day tournament scheduled for Antigua and Barbados.

Ramdin has recently fallen out of favour with West Indies selectors, losing his place in the Test and Twenty20 squads before also being overlooked for the TriNations Series in Zimbabwe last November.

He has battled injury ever since returning from the ODI series against Pakistan in United Arab Emirates but said he was in good shape once again.

“I have been doing a lot of work during the rehab period to upkeep my physical fitness and be ready to resume playing serious cricket again,” Ramdin told the Newsday. “Physically and mentally, I am ready to push myself again. Because of the shoulder injury I sustained during the Tri-Nations series [in the Caribbean], I was unable to give of my best.

“But I am optimistic that I will regain the match fitness during the preparation period for the Super50 competition.”

Ramdin’s experience will add precious experience to a squad that has struggled in the first half of the Regional four-day championship.

Red Force lie bottom of the six-team standings on 35.6 points after winning just one game in five outings in the tournament.

Ramdin, who has led T&T extensively in the past, is vastly experienced with 74 Tests and 139 ODIs under his belt, and has served as West Indies Test captain.

The 14-man Red Force squad is expected to be announced shortly.

Red Force will do battle in Group A of the Super50 alongside Leeward Islands Hurricanes, West Indies Under-19s, Windward Islands Volcanoes and English county, Kent Spitfires.