Team manager Rangy Nanan has declared himself ``satisfied'' with Trinidad and Tobago's performance in the qualifying round of the Red Stripe Bowl limited overs competition. And though he concedes that Saturday's semi-final clash with the Leewards at Kaiser Sports Club in Jamaica is an extremely tough fixture, he is convinced that his team has the fire power to defeat the defending champions.
``We're confident. We went to Guyana to qualify and that's exactly what we did,'' he told the Express yesterday. ``We also wanted to win all our games but unfortunately we were hampered by the rain.''
T&T finished second in Zone One, behind hosts Guyana. When the teams met in the zone decider at Bourda on Saturday, a heavy mid-afternoon shower halted the contest with T&T in the driver's seat and the points were shared. Guyana then crushed Bermuda by 152 runs at Hampton Court on Sunday to top the Zone by virtue of a superior net run-rate.
Barbados, the second-placed team in Zone Two, challenge the Guyanese at Kaiser on Friday. But the second semifinal is the one to capture the fans' imagination .
National skipper Brian Lara is keen to regain the regional One-day title his team earned two years ago. But with Curtly Ambrose in his line-up, Leewards skipper Stuart Williams will go into the contest confident that he can keep the reins on his opposite number.
However, Lara, who scored 89 against Guyana, is not the only in-form T&T batsman. Both openers, Suruj Ragoonath and Andr‚ Lawrence, averaged over 40 in the preliminary round of the tournament.
``They're batting quite well and gave us good starts in Guyana. Our opponents are the champs, and they're not going to lie down and let us roll over them,'' Nanan continued.
``But after whipping the USA they struggled. They were unable to get to 200 against Barbados and Jamaica, and only (Wilden) Cornwall and (Keith) Arthurton were among the runs.''
In the showdown with Jamaica, Ambrose was miserly-2/15 in nine overs-and got good support from fellow pacer Kenny Benjamin (3/25). Against that sort of pedigree, the other batsmen-Phil Simmons, Daren Ganga and Richard Smith-will have to pull their weight. There also needs, according to Nanan, to be an improvement in the T&T outcricket.
``We need to work a bit on the fielding aspect, but overall we feel very positive. Team morale is high, the captain had two very good knocks and the bowlers are bowling quite well.''
The key man for the Leewards could well be their skipper. ``Stuart Williams is a great One-day player,'' Nanan said.
``They have a fair batting line-up and good bowling, so we're fairly evenly matched. Once we're at full throttle, we should be in the final.''