Back to the regional: Lowly T&T oppose champs Barbados (11 April 1998)

Saturday, April 11, 1998

Back to the regional: Lowly T&T oppose champs Barbados

The Trinidad Express

BRIAN LARA, fresh from leading the West Indies to a convincing series win over England, will be hoping to end the regional President's Cup cricket tournament on a high note.

Lara, however, will have only honour and prestige to play for when his Trinidad and Tobago team engage defending champions Barbados in their fifth and final round encounter at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre starting today.

Barbados, on 36 points, still have a realistic chance of winning the Cup while Trinidad and Tobago have only won one match for the season in the President's Cup, their opening round match against the Windward Islands. They were subsequently defeated by the Leewards and Guyana, and lost on first innings in the drawn match with Jamaica.

Nevertheless, the selectors have picked a strong line-up in an effort to frustrate the Barbadian bid to retain the regional championship, which they won last year.

Apart from Lara, there are five others who played for the West Indies against the touring Englishmen in the Cable and Wireless Test and One-day series.

They are all-rounder Phil Simmons, wicketkeeper David Williams, fast bowlers Ian Bishop and Mervyn Dillon and leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine. These players, along with West Indies A opener Surj Ragoonath, will no doubt be hoping to catch the eyes of the West Indies selectors in the final regional dress rehearsal before the important tour of South Africa later this year.

The Barbadians, who arrived in Trinidad on Wednesday night, will be captained by their explosive opening batsman Philo Wallace, who made a fairly successful return to the West Indies team for the series against England.

He, as well as Roland Holder, the middle-order batsman who also had his international career extended against the tourists, will be anxious to continue the fine form he exhibited in the Test series.

Also expected to stake a claim for consideration for the South African tour is opener Sherwin Campbell, who was dropped after the Fourth Test, while "A" team players, pacer Pedro Collins and batsman Floyd Reifer, will want to impress the selectors one final time.

Fast-bowling all-rounders Vasbert Drakes and Hendy Bryan will also be keen to do well in their first game of the season after returning home from professional contracts in South Africa.

Source :: The Trinidad Express (https://www.trinidad.net/express/)