T&T confident of going all the way

Trinidad and Tobago, fresh from their quarter-final victory over Barbados in the Stanford 20/20 tournament on Saturday, face an intriguing Nevisian test in next week's second semi-finals, and manager Omar Khan and Daren Ganga are confident they can go all the way.

T&T suffered a middle order batting collapse after a strong start against the Bajans, but some tight bowling and outstanding fielding enabled them to restrict their arch rivals to 96 and earn a 46-run win.

Khan, though feels if the players continue to perform as a team, they can lift the inaugural Stanford 20/20 title. "That (winning) was our intention from the start," Khan told The Express after the team's return home on Sunday. "When we started the tournament, we discussed taking it one game at a time, and we have the intention of playing four games. We have played two and won. We have two more to play."

Khan, a former T&T player, also stressed that his team are not worried about their next opponents, despite Nevis' huge score of 213 against Antigua and Barbuda in their quarter-final. "We are not concerned about that because we know the bowling we have. We bowl to a plan, and we have the players to stick to that plan. The coach [former West Indies wicketkeeper] David Williams has done a tremendous job in working out who we have to bowl to what score."

Reflecting on their batting performance, Ganga acknowledged that his team made some mistakes, but stressed they would rectify that in time for the next match. "I think we were looking for too much boundaries in the period when we were supposed to turn over the strike and put away the bad balls," he said. "We also had two run outs at crucial times. But at the end of the day, we were able to get a victory, and I'm sure we're not going to make the same mistake twice."

Ganga was also optimistic that T&T could get the better of Nevis, saying the key is their performance in the field. "Basically we are going to ensure we play to our strengths," he said. "We were very good in the field. We did achieve the kind of total we wanted and we were able to defend it." Ganga also lauded youngsters William Perkins and Mario Belcon for the strong starts they gave the team in both matches, while also praising the other young players for their performances.

But looking ahead to the tests ahead, Khan felt the mental aspect of the game will be the most critical part of his team's campaign. "We have to continue playing intelligent cricket, very organised and planned cricket," he said. "So it's all about fast action game and you've got to keep thinking all the time and our intention is to outthink the opposition. We know we have batting from 1-11, we have very strong batting, and the guys made some mistakes, especially in the middle order, but we know they will come good [against Nevis]. If our batting comes good we know it will be hard to match any totals that we can make."