He's someone that we cannot thank enough for his contribution to cricket, and to sports in general.
Enjoy it Phil, there's no one else more deserving. And remember, people, when next you write him a letter, it is ``Philip Simmons, H.B.M.''. It was also nice for me, to return home, and spend a couple of days with my daughter and my family, before embarking on the two-month tour to Pakistan and Sharjah.
Yesterday, on our return to Jamaica, we were joined by the Guyanese and Leewards teams, both looking very confident.
At this stage of the tournament, I think everyone (except Trinidad and Tobago) sees Guyana as favourites to win. This may be because of their dominance, winning all three matches in their zone. But remember, they were playing at home, and we all know the advantages of that.
Last year, Guyana showed the same brilliance, winning all six matches in the preliminary round. But then suffered their only defeat in the all-important final against us.
T&T, on the other hand, started with a defeat against the Leeward Islands, and a rained out match against Canada in this same tournament. We then bounced back to win all our remaining matches, and, of course, the finals.
A successful run must come to an end. That was the situation last year, and I see no reason why we cannot come out on top once again. Taking all that into consideration, it's going to be a hard-fought match, with both sides not giving up til the end.
Clayton Lambert has so far stolen the spotlight in the Guyanese batting, which leaves me a little more concerned, knowing that Chanders and Hoops still have their act of brilliance intact.
Our opponents' strength is definitely in their batting, but their bowling is where I am expecting us to take the initiative away from them.
While no-one scored over 150 runs against us, (HS 143 by the Windward Islands) on a few occasions, their attack has gone for over 200. Looking at the batting sides of both teams, they seem capable of scoring in excess of 200 runs. So, in my opinion, the key factor in the match will be the bowling, and I think we clearly hold the advantage. With the likes of Bishop, Dillon, Dhanraj, Ramnarine, and Phil carrying T&T's hopes on their shoulders, we should be able to restrict the Guyanese batsmen, and come away with a victory.
As I said before our rained-out quarterfinals against the Windward Islands, you'll be seeing the best-possible XI take the field, and with no chance of play since then, we can safely say that the XI remains the same, with Francis, Hazel, and Roberts out.
It came as a surprise to me while in Trinidad, to hear that our semifinals against Guyana were now to be played today (Friday), when the fixtures clearly show that our match was carded for Saturday. I spoke to Rangy on the telephone, and he did not give me a clear-cut reason, but I suppose whatever it was, there's not much to be done about it. So if it's Friday, it's Friday.
Our three-hour trip to Ocho Rios was not without some bad news. It rained all the way, and while checking in, I tried to find out what the weather had been like, and was told it had been raining all week. The good news is, however, that the venue for the semifinals and finals, the Kaiser Oval, is known to dry out quickly.
So with a bit of luck and some sunshine, there's a possibility of play. Play is what we need, because a rained-out match automatically places Guyana into the finals.