PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Dudnath Ramkessoon is unperturbed that a number of leading Trinidad & Tobago players will be missing for their opening match in the WICB Regional first-class championship against arch-rivals Barbados, starting next Friday at Guaracara Park. The T&T chairman of selectors admits it will be difficult not having players like Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Adrian Barath, and Ravi Rampaul available because of West Indies duties in Sri Lanka and at the World Cup.
Regular captain Daren Ganga is also likely to be missing, after he split the “webbing” on his left hand while fielding in the Caribbean Twenty20 semi-final against Jamaica last Saturday in Barbados.
But Ramkessoon, a former T&T youth captain, believes that T&T’s reserves are strong enough to overcome the challenges.
“(Ganga) has been to the doctor, and we are awaiting the report,” he told the Trinidad Express newspaper.
“We will continue to monitor his recovery to determine whether he will be ready for the match.
“We have options available in terms of captaincy. Of course, we’d like him to play; if he can’t play, we have other players to fill the gap.”
Out-of-favour West Indies wicketkeeper/batsman Denesh Ramdin is likely to lead the side in Ganga’s absence, as he did successfully during the Final of the CT20.
“I don’t think it will be a major headache selecting this team,” said Ramkessoon. “We know who will be out, and we have some capable players that can come in.”
He has identified fast bowler Shannon Gabriel as one of the players upon whom T&T pin their hopes.
“We have been monitoring his progress,” he said. “He’s a quick bowler, and he was in the (WICB) High Performance Centre, and those who saw him for a short while (during the T20 Festival) at Guaracara Park (felt he) was very impressive.
“He bowled one (impressive) game in particular against the T&T seniors. He’s a very interesting prospect we have, and very shortly, I think he will be in the West Indies team.”
Ramkessoon also welcomed the match schedule, which has provided T&T with four home matches out of seven, unlike last season which was contested under a single venue format for each round of matches.
“With the (Caribbean T20) victory, the T&T fans will expect great things from the fellows, but people will understand it is a different format (for this competition),” he said.
“But there were a lot of positive things in the T20 (tournament). The way we played as a unit, the quality of performance and intensity, the way they approached the matches, prepared, took catches, batted with a purpose, all the positive things to look at in a cricket team.”
T&T finished in the middle of the seven-team table in fourth, after starting the competition as one of the favourites.