Gros Islet, St Lucia — Darren Bravo says he is "hitting the ball nicely" and wants to maintain the excellent form which has seen him help Trinidad and Tobago to an unbeaten record so far in the Caribbean T20 tournament.
The left-hander has made two unbeaten half-centuries in four innings and is the tournament’s leading batsman. He has amassed 164 runs at an impressive strike rate of 149.09 and an average of 82 runs per innings. On Saturday night, in front a sell-out home crowd of 20,000 at Queen’s Park Oval, Bravo hit a career-best 82 not out as the Trinis beat Guyana by 80 runs. He was the deserved winner of the Man-of-the-Match award.
"In the team meeting and in the dressing room we spoke about someone batting through the innings and I decided that [it] would definitely be my night and I backed myself to execute our game plan in the best possible way," the vice captain said.
Bravo was the central figure in several good partnerships, which led Trinidad and Tobago to 191-4 – the highest score in the tournament to date. He added 48 off 33 balls for the third wicket with older brother Dwayne and put together 54 off 30 balls for the fourth wicket with skipper Denesh Ramdin. This set the stage for a late-innings boundary spree in a fifth wicket partnership of 64 from 27 balls with the awesome Kieron Pollard.
"I’m timing and hitting the ball nicely. I’ve been working on a few things in the nets and it was nice to bat with experienced guys like Dwayne, Pollard and Ramdin and they helped me a lot during my innings," Bravo said.
Bravo and his team-mates had a spirited training session on Monday and appeared well prepared for Tuesday’s match against the Windward Islands at Beausejour Cricket Ground. First ball is 8 pm (7 pm Jamaica Time). T&T lead the standings with 13 points and will continue their bid to top the preliminary round and book an automatic spot in the Grand Final on Sunday.
"We’re taking one game at a time so when we go across there we will try to get everything right and keep winning. We’re not taking anything for granted. We have to be precise in everything we do and we have to continue playing with a positive frame of mind."
In the day’s other match, Guyana will face Jamaica in a bid to stay in contention for a Play-off spot at 4 pm (3 pm Jamaica Time.
Fans in the region can watch the entire tournament live on ESPN Caribbean – the broadcast partner of the West Indies Cricket Board. Additional coverage is available on ESPN’s Networks in the UK, Australia, Middle East and Africa. In Canada, fans can see the action via the Titan GSG Media Corporation.
FULL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
(AT QUEEN’S PARK OVAL, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad)
Sunday, January 6
Trinidad & Tobago vs Jamaica – Match abandoned due to rain
Monday, January 7
Barbados beat Leeward Islands by 9 wickets
Guyana beat Combined Campuses & Colleges by 2 wickets
Tuesday, January 8
Barbados beat Jamaica by 5 wickets
T&T beat CCC by 7 wickets
Wednesday, January 9
Jamaica beat Windward Islands by 12 runs
T&T beat Leeward Islands by 95 runs
Thursday, January 10
Windwards beat CCC by 42 runs
Guyana beat Barbados by 42 runs
Friday, January 11
Leeward Islands vs Jamaica – TIE (Jamaica won one-over eliminator)
CCC beat Barbados by 12 runs
Saturday, January 12
Windwards beat Leeward by 10 runs
Trinidad & Tobago beat Guyana by 80 runs
(AT BEAUSEJOUR CRICKET GROUND, Gros Islet, St. Lucia)
Tuesday, January 15
Guyana vs Jamaica – 4 p.m.
Windward Islands vs Trinidad & Tobago – 8 p.m.
Wednesday, January 16
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Leeward Islands – 4 p.m.
Barbados vs Trinidad & Tobago – 8 p.m.
Thursday, January 17
Leeward Islands vs Guyana – 4 p.m.
Windward Islands vs Barbados – 8 p.m.
Friday, January 18
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Jamaica – 4 p.m.
Windward Islands vs Guyana – 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 19
Play-off: 2nd Place vs 3rd Place – 8 p.m.
Sunday, January 20
Grand Final: 1st Place vs Winner of Play-off – 8 p.m.
POINTS STANDINGS
|
TEAMS |
M |
W |
L |
NR |
P |
NRR |
|
Trinidad & Tobago |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
+3.352 |
|
Jamaica |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
-0.731 |
|
Windwards |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
+0.702 |
|
Barbados |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
+0.685 |
|
Guyana |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
-0.616 |
|
CCC |
4 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
-0.647 |
|
Leewards |
4 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
-2.302 |