T&T Red Steel, Tallawahs in crucial semis

[socafighter]

T&T Red Steel, Tallawahs in crucial semis
Published: Guardian
Monday, August 11, 2014
Vinode Mamchan
 
 

After lead the six-team table for almost two weeks in their quest to book an automatic spot in the finals, T&T Red Steel will now have to face Jamaica Tallawahs in the first of two semifinals on Wednesday at Warner Park, St Kitts after finishing their preliminary round in third place.

Scores: TRIDENTS 175 for eight off 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 63, William Perkins 36, Dwayne Smith 32; Rusty Theron 4-35, Daniel Vettori 2-22) TALLAWAHS 87 all out off 15.3 overs (Nkrumah Bonner 47; Jeevan Mendis 2-15, Ashley Nurse 2-16, Rayad Emrit 2-29)

It was also a disappointment for the Tallawahs which was comprehensively beaten by the Barbadian Tridents in the final round-robin match last night in St Kitts. The winners of the first semifianls will then challenge the Guayana Amazons in Thursday’s second semis at the same venue and the winner will play the championships on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Customs officials in New York drilled into the bat of Guyana Amazon Warriors player Jimmy Neesham, looking for drugs, well T&T Red Steel management will be looking at the bats of their players, looking for runs, that have dried up all of a sudden. The Red Steel got off the plane in St Kitts last week as leaders of the Limacol Premier League T20 tournament and today they have to fight through the qualifiers to make it to the finals. Two losses at the hands of the Barbados Tridents and Antigua Hawksbills saw Dwayne Bravo’s men finish preliminary play with six wins and three losses.

Yesterday, the players had a long team meeting and the senior players all spoke about the sudden rundrought on a pitch that is full of runs and on a small ground. The general consensus coming from the players was that they just did not access the conditions here well and got excited about the facility and did not plan their innings, as they had done in previous matches.

Bravo is not a happy man “I just cannot understand what is going on with the batsmen. We have all been among the runs in this tournament so far and we need to take responsibility for what has happened in the last two games. Players need to step up now or it is over and then all know that. I think that we have not structured our innings and well and have not batted well in the power-play.

We are losing wickets too early and hence cannot maximise the powerplay and this has us behind the game all the time, “We need to get a good start in the play-off and everyone who is coming in to bat has to have sense of where the team is and what they need to do. We have playing poor shots and a lot of this has been due to the early pressure that we have been under.

Red Steel is expected to make changes to their team and their is a possibility that middle order batsman Jason Mohammed may get a look in, at the expense of the man who replaced him Javon Searles. Mohammed would add that spinvariety to the bowling attack and with the pitch here assisting the slow bowlers at times, it gives Bravo that added option.

[socafighter]

Borde wants Red Steel batting click again
By JOEL BAILEY Tuesday, August 12 2014
Newsday

THE MOOD in the Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel team camp has been good despite the pair of defeats in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), against the Barbados Tridents and Antigua Hawksbills, according to team manager Colin Borde.

Both defeats were suffered at Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts, last Thursday and Saturday respectively, and the results saw the Red Steel drop from first to third on the points standings.

The Tridents finished top of the group and automatically advanced to the August 16 final in St Kitts, with the Red Steel meeting the Jamaica Tallawahs tomorrow in the first semi-final. The winner of the Red Steel-Tallawahs match will meet the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Thursday in the other semi-final, for a spot in Saturday’s final.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Borde said, “the mood has been good.

“Obviously, we didn’t put together partnerships that we had done (previously) in the tournament, which won us games,” he admitted. “Just like (the) Tallawahs, both teams were pressing forward and faltered in the last hurdle.

“The thing is, we’re still in with a chance. All four teams are going to play to fight to win the tournament. It’s a do-or-die now.”

Borde emphasised that the Red Steel’s recent batting shortcomings will be addressed in time for tomorrow’s contest.

“We have had our meetings and the players are aware of what they need to do,” he said. “It didn’t happen in the last two games but we played wonderful cricket in the earlier stages, and we’re capable of doing it again. It’s about the players just making sure that they’re focused and they do the simple things consistently.

“And, at the end of the day, if we play well enough, as we know we can and we have, there’s no reason why we can’t beat Jamaica, or any of the other teams,” Borde added. “We have in fact done well against all three, we’ve beaten all three already in the tournament.

“It’s a matter of us to refocus, (be) re-energised and do what we came here to do, to try to win (the) title. We have to beat all before (us).”

About the state of affairs in St Kitts, Borde noted, “we weren’t able to train (yesterday) because it’s been horrendous weather from about 3 am. The ground has been unsuitable for practice so what we (did) was gym work and training on the beach.

“It’s not something that we have control over so what we can control, we will control. And we’ll do the things that we should to get past Jamaica,” he ended.

[socafighter]

T&T Red Steel hits the beach in St Kitts
Published: Guardian
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Vinode Mamchan
 
 

In-form opener Lendl Simmons narrowly missed out on three figures as Guyana Amazon Warriors completed the highest ever run chase in the Caribbean Premier League, to beat St Lucia Zouks by eight wickets on Sunday at Warner Park, St Kitts. Simmons run out for 97 of 60 balls.
T&T Red Steel continued to enjoy bad luck on their final leg of the 2014 Limacol Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament, as rain prevented them from hitting the nets at Warner Park in St Kitts yesterday.

The team has suffered two losses since arriving in St Kitts and they finished third in the preliminary round of the six-team standings after arriving in the Island as the leaders. Red Steel went under to Barbados Tridents and cellar placed Antigua Hawksbills and now will enter into a playoff against defending champions Jamaica Tallawah’s tomorrow. If they win this clash, they move on to battle Guyana Amazon Warriors in another playoff and if successful, they battle Barbados Tridents in the finals.

Manager of the team Colin Borde speaking to T&T Guardian said: “I am happy with the fact that the boys’ spirits are still high. We were not able to go to the ground to train today after the rain but we did some work at the beach. We had a good session in terms strength and conditioning and the boys all enjoyed the time nevertheless.”

Borde said every match now was a virtual final and the coach and management had spoken to the players and they were assessing their performances and looking to correct the errors.

“When we came here the top five batsmen were all in good form. They were getting runs and when it did not happen here, the middle order failed to deliver.,” said Borde.

“Partnerships have been our problem since arriving here and the guys have deviated from the plan.

“The coach has been emphasising this and the players are aware that in the last two games, they moved away from what was suppose to give them the success and they need to return to the plan.

“We have beaten every team that remains in this tournament and we think we can still go all the way and lift this title.

“We did not reach the finals in the way we wanted to but we are still in and at this moment, all the teams are even. We are in a situation where we need to win every match from here onwards. Every game is a final for us and this is sure to spur the players on even further.

“We said before that we will be in St Kitts until August 17 and we are sticking to that original plan.”The finals of the CPL takes place on Saturday at Warner Park.

Final standings

 
Team    M    W    L    D    N/R    Pts    RR
1 Tridents    9    6    3    0    0    12    +0.675
2 Warriors    9    6    3    0    0    12    +0.414
3 Red Steel    9    6    3    0    0    12    +0.317
4 Tallawahs    9    6    3    0    0    12    +0.071
5 Zouks    9    2    7    0    0    4    -0.790
6 Hawksbills    9    1    8    0    0    2    -0.820

[Sando prince]

No excuses if we don't beat the Tallawahs. Our team has underperformed last two games

[D.H.W]

Tallawahs then Warriors then Tridents