Trinidad & Tobago confident ahead of final

"We are very confident," said Trinidad and Tobago team manager Colin Borde at the end of a three-day practice match at the National Cricket Centre, Balmain, Couva.

The match was in preparation for the 2008 Carib Beer Challenge final against Jamaica next week (April 24-28) in Jamaica, and Borde believes the national squad are ready for the contest after a two-week break for the series between West Indies and Sri Lanka.

"We trained for three days last week and the guys have been playing in this three-day match here and I think they will be ready for the final," Borde said. "We are the defending champions and the guys know what it is all about and I am not worried ...I am confident that they can get the job done."

T&T, who defeated Barbados in the final last year at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre, will have to travel to Jamaica to take on this year's Carib Beer Series champions and will be without the services of West Indies allrounder Dwayne Bravo.

Borde said: "Denesh Ramdin will be available and we are confident we have good players who can step up (in the absence of Bravo). Darren Bravo, who scored 153 in the practice match, had a good knock and he is an exciting prospect and [Adrian] Barath had a dream debut season, but it has been rough this year, but I am sure he knows what it takes ... he is a hard-working youngster and he knows what has to be done and I think he will come good."

Speaking about the rest of the team, Borde said: "Amit [Jaggernauth] is now our strike bowler and we have [Rayad] Emrit, [Richard] Kelly, Ravi Rampaul and Dave Mohammed, so I think we have some good bowling options."

Borde is also confident that captain Daren Ganga can recover from his bad patch of form this season. "He is a big-game player and I am not worried ... he will step up for the occasion. He [Ganga] had a good knock today and he is in good touch...we have what it takes and we are confident of victory. The guys are going back to their clubs to continue playing more competitive cricket over the weekend. We will be ready for Jamaica."