Guyana look to emulate T&T in Champions League
Guyana's team manager has said his team will be looking to emulate Trinidad & Tobago, who reached the final of the Champions League in India last year
Cricinfo staff
03-Aug-2010
Guyana qualified for the 2010 Champions League after beating Barbados in the Caribbean T20 final • Anthony Harris/West Indies Cricket Board
Carl Moore, the manager of the victorious Guyana team in the Caribbean T20, has said his team will be looking to emulate Trinidad & Tobago, who reached the final of the Champions League in India last year. Guyana have qualified for this year's edition of the tournament, to be held in South Africa next month.
"We will be working harder now because we want to try and live up to what T&T did last year when they came second, and even go a step further and do better than T&T and hopefully give the Caribbean some pride," Moore told the Trinidad and Tobago Express. "We have a month to prepare and I am sure the Guyana cricket board will get things in order."
Moore felt Guyana would derive confidence from being the only Caribbean team to beat a strong T&T side in the shortest version. He singled out the youngster Jonathan Foo for praise and said that he could be their "ace in the hole" for the Champions League. Foo scored an undefeated 42 off 17 balls against Barbados in the thrilling final of the inaugural Caribbean T20.
Moore credited Guyana captain Ramnaresh Sarwan for the win. "Teamwork and the captaincy of Sarwan had a lot to do with it. Sarwan was able to inspire the team and everyone looked up to him."
Guyana play their first match of the tournament against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Centurion on September 12. The other teams in the group are Mumbai Indians, Lions and South Australia.
Meanwhile, the tournament was hailed as a resounding success by the WICB president Julian Hunte.
"I want to say well done to everyone who had a hand in the successful staging of the Caribbean T20 tournament. It was a quality event and the people of the Caribbean have every reason to be proud of what we saw on the fields at Kensington Oval in Barbados and Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad," said Hunte.
"The entire cricket world witnessed what we have on offer, via our broadcast partner ESPN, and it looked really good. The people of the region are the ones who made it happen and we at the WICB want them to know they did a fantastic job."