PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Trinidad and Tobago manager Omar Khan says his side will deliver a bold, new brand of cricket and has promised they will win the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship.
“The ‘Red Force’ (T&T) will be evident in the regional series and we are looking to wipe away everything before us. This bunch is now getting together for battle and when they take the field, they will be hard to stop,” Khan said, speaking as T&T put the final touches on their preparation for the January 10-23 tournament.
“We are going out to bring back the title and we are going to play very dominant cricket. The boys have been made to understand their roles within the team set up and we are going out there to play intelligent cricket.”
T&T are still smarting after being dethroned as regional T20 kings by Guyana, who won the inaugural CT20 last August.
The Trinidadian side had captured the last edition of the now defunct Stanford 20/20 to qualify for the Airtel Champions League in 2009 where they played unbeaten to reach the final before losing.
Last year, they disappointingly bowed out at the semi-final stage before their home crowd but Khan said this time around the side would be more focused.
“Everyone has his part to play in the set up and if we are to be successful we will need every man on board and every man reading from the same blue print,” the former West Indies team manager pointed out.
“We have a good coach in Kelvin Williams and he has worked very hard with this unit. When I returned as manager and spoke to the boys, they all felt they had let down the country in the 2010 tournament.
“They are now deriving their passion from their will to give back to their fans and it will be very hard to stop this T&T team.”
T&T are down to do battle in Group B with last year’s losing finalists Barbados, Leeward Islands and overseas teams Canada and English County Hampshire.
The first half of the tournament will be played in Antigua before moving to Barbados for the finale.