Busta Cup: Bishop's boys bit to bust 'em (14 January 1999)

14 January 1999

Busta Cup: Bishop's boys bit to bust 'em

By Garth Wattley

"We know it's time that we win something. Now is the ideal time."

Trinidad and Tobago cricket captain Ian Bishop is a man aware of the past. And when he leads his team onto the field at Guaracara Park this morning for the opening salvo of the inaugural Busta Cup regional season against joint champ Guyana, he and his men will be aiming to prevent history repeating itself.

It is now 14 years since the national team under Rangy Nanan lifted the Shell Shield. Since then, the symbol of regional supremacy has become a Red Stripe and, latterly a President's Cup. T&T have lifted neither.

The frustrating facts are not lost on the 1999 captain.

In his previous stint in charge in 1995, Bishop's side beat both the winners, the Leeward Islands and runners-up Barbados, played unbeaten and still finished third. But as he prepared for this weekend's task, it was errors both past and present that concerned him.

"There is a problem in West Indies cricket," Bishop says.

Trinidad and Tobago is part of West Indies cricket and we (T&T team) need to improve in all the areas that we see identified on television (during the current Test series against South Africa), then West Indies cricket will grow stronger." And it is in a sense, corrective cricketing surgery, that the 31-year-old fastbowler is hoping he and his men will perform on the local game over the next two months.

The skipper hopes to make the first incision with desire. "First of all, the team has to want to win. There needs to be that hunger, individually and collectively," he says.

The 1999 squad contains a host of players with much to prove - middle order batsmen Lincoln Roberts, Dennis Rampersad and Richard Smith, openers Suruj Ragoonath and Anil Balliram, fastbowler Marlon Black, and Bishop himself.

T&T's leading Test wicket-taker with 161 wickets, is hoping to be an example in both word and deed.

"I thought I worked hard on the tour with the help of the coach, manager and players as well. And I think I have gotten myself back to a reasonable standard," the captain said.

Bishop certainly looked a much improved product on the man that struggled through the 1998 international season.

And the captain will be hoping that his players are able to follow his lead today against a youthful but no less determined Nicholas deGroot-led Guyana side. One Saturday, last weekend's North/South Gerry Gomez Classic and Tuesday's one-day fixture against Moosai Sports Club were the only match opportunities for the players to get themselves in tune. The bowlers, offspinner Mukesh Persad and young pacer Asif Jan in particular, have stood out. But, for a combination of reasons, the runs have not flowed.

The possible absence through injury of opener Ragoonath therefore will be a worry to the team management.

Ragoonath injured a finger on his right hand during the Gerry Gomez Classic and is still not fully fit. A final decision on him will be made this morning. His absence will most likely open the way for Moosai's Leon Romero (a reserve) who showed great application in the Classic.

Opportunity also abounds for Black, Avidesh Samaroo and Vishal Persad-Maharaj. Bishop is hoping to focus the brimming ambition.

"We have to work hard at the right things - score as many runs as we can under tough conditions, bowl as effectively as we can, keeping runs down, putting pressure on the opposition."

The captain will be wishing too, that the pressure does not paralyse his side and that in this year of a T&T sponsor, his boys go out and bust them all.

T&T - Ian Bishop (Capt), Phil Simmons, Suruj Ragoonath, Anil Balliram, Richard Smith, Lincoln Roberts, Dennis Rampersad, David Williams, Mukesh Persad, Avidesh Samaroo, Vishal Persad-Maharaj, Marlon Black, Asif Jan.

Guyana - Nicholas deGroot (Capt), Azeemul Haniff, Lennox Cush, Vishal Nagamootoo, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Colin Stuart, Kevin Darlington, Garvin Nedd, Homchand Pooran, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Andre Percival, Jermaine Neblette and Travis Dowlin.

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