Bravo, Gabriel among senior players set for Red Force return
TRINIDAD AND Tobago Red Force will be boosted for their third-round match in the regional four-day championship next week by the return of four West Indies players.
Batsman Darren Bravo, wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, fast bowler Shannon Gabriel and left-arm spinner Khary Pierre are all available for the clash with Leeward Islands Hurricanes, starting January 4 at the Brian Lara Stadium.
“I spoke to Ramdin ... and he assured me that he would be available for the next round and he doesn’t have any T20 contracts. That shows me that he’s committed,” the NewsDay quoted head coach Kelvin Williams as saying.
“Darren Bravo will be available [as well as] Shannon Gabriel and Khary Pierre. So these guys will be available.
SELECTION PANEL
“I am a part of the selection panel. We’ll have to sit down and decide the combination for the game against the Leeward Islands.”
Bravo, Ramdin and Pierre were part of the West Indies squad which won the Twenty20 series in Bangladesh last weekend. Gabriel, meanwhile, featured in the Test series whitewash to Bangladesh last month, playing the first Test before being suspended for the second.
Red Force lost their opening match of the first-class championship, going down by 76 runs to Windward Islands Volcanoes in the second round. Therefore, the return of the senior players will be welcomed, as Red Force seek to finally kickstart their season.
Williams said Red Force had been let down by their batsmen against Volcanoes.
“I did expect the batters to do well. Bowling out the Windwards for 206 and having a lead of 19, I thought that lead was not sufficient in the situation that we actually [found] ourselves in,” he pointed out.
“I thought we would have scored [over] 300 runs and gave them [a big] lead. If we had [done] that, the game would have been easily won by us.
“I’m hoping that they’ll be fresh after the new year. It’s just four days’ practice before the next game, and I’m hoping that we can do better than what we did against the Volcanoes.”
Red Force will resume training on Friday following the Christmas holiday break.