TKR seeking revenge against Tridents
(Trinidad Guardian) Rain is forecast for today and it may well consume the thoughts of the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) more than their opponents the Barbados Tridents ahead of their Hero Caribbean Premier League semi-final at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando, from 7 pm.
With a place in the finals on the line, should rain wash out the clash the Tridents will advance to meet the Guyana Amazon Warriors in Saturday’s final by virtue of finishing higher than the TKR in the round-robin phase. The Tridents finished second with 10 points and TKR ended third with nine points at the end of the six-team competition. The TKR had those nine points after six matches but failed to win a single match of their final four to land second place and an opportunity for two chances at making the final.
Checks with the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Office indicated that there will be spotted showers this evening and should this be enough to wash the game out, it will be a sad ending for the two-time defending champions TKR. Yesterday, however, TKR manager Colin Borde was optimistic about the situation.
“We are in the semi-finals. The rains are here. At this point, we can only hope that we get an opportunity to play and perform. The road to here has been winding but we are here. We cannot control the rainfall so we plan our strategies accordingly. We have faith in the decisions that captain (Kieron) Pollard and the coaches will make as they have faith in the ability of the group as players. Let’s play!”
Yesterday the rain belted down on the Brian Lara Cricket Academy facility, which was underwater just after lunch. However, the excellent drainage at the venue led to the water draining off quickly and this has given optimism to stadium manager Haresh Ragoonath.
Speaking to Guardian Media Sports yesterday afternoon, Ragoonath said: “Yes, we had a lot of rain here today and the ground got soaked. However, we have excellent drainage here and the water was able to run off quickly. The rain we had today would not prevent cricket tomorrow.
“We will have the outfield ready for action come match time. The only way the match could be interrupted is if the rain comes down moments before or during the game.”
Ragoonath said the traffic problems felt in the past would also not be the case this time around.
“We have taken measures to ensure that fans reach into the ground on time to enjoy the game. We have Park and Ride with shuttles taking fans from the Waterfront car park to the stadium and then from UTT at Tarouba and Corinth straight to the ground.
“We have also cut an additional road that takes patrons to and from the ground via the EMBD eastbound road. This will mean that fans coming from the east of the ground like reform and Princes Town and those areas can access the ground through the EMBD road.”
TEAMS
TKR: Kieron Pollard (capt), Sunil Narine, Colin Munro, Denesh Ramdin, Darren Bravo, Chris Jordan, Khary Pierre, Jimmy Neesham, Seekkuge Prasanna, Amir Jangoo, Anderson Phillip, Mark Deyal, Tion Webster, Javon Searles, Akeal Hosein, Ali Khan.
Tridents: Alex Hales, Jason Holder (capt), Asif Ali, Sandeep Lamichhane, Johnson Charles, Shai Hope, Ashley Nurse, Jonathan Carter, Chemar K Holder, Leniko Boucher, Roshon Primus, Raymon Reifer, Justin Greaves, Joshua Bishop, Hayden Walsh.