ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – This year’s NAGICO Super50 Tournament opens next Thursday in Trinidad & Tobago and Combined Campuses & Colleges will be one of the eight-teams taking part.
CCC have been an integral part of the regional scene for the last seven seasons – but they are not a part of the ongoing WICB Professional Cricket League Regional 4-Day Tournament, following a shift to franchise-based teams, so they will be looking to make a big impact.
For the NS50, the composite university side has been drawn in Group “A” along with reigning champions Barbados Pride, as well as Guyana Jaguars and Windward Islands Volcanoes.
The first stage of the Tournament will be the group stage comprising a series of non-elimination matches in each group – each team will play every other team in its group – with two matches being contested daily at either the Queen’s Park Oval, the T&T Cricket Board’s National Cricket Centre in the central Trinidad community of Couva, or Shaw Park in Scarborough, the capital of Trinidad’s sister island Tobago.
Following the group stage, the top two teams in each group will progress to the semi-finals at the Oval, where the group winners play the runners-up from the opposite group in a one-off match for a place in the Grand Final on Sunday, January 25 at the same venue.
Today, WICB Media presents key quotes from CCC Head Coach Floyd Reifer.
On making an impact on the Tournament:
It is not about us trying to prove anything. Our role in this cricket is to develop players and in the last seven years we have developed a lot of players through the CCC programme. I could call a list of more than 20 players that have passed through the programme – some are playing for West Indies “A”, we have Chadwick Walton on the West Indies team and we have other players that have gone back to their territories and dominated the game there. So we have done well in terms of our role in development, in terms of young players in the Caribbean, but it’s sad we are not involved in the 4-Day Tournament because we have a lot of young talent this year and we are very excited about it. We have a good crop of young fast bowlers and batsmen, so we will be looking forward to the NAGICO Super50 and allowing these young players to showcase their talents.
On what would define success in the Tournament:
We want to be competitive, but I believe strongly that winning is a huge part of development, so we are going to the Tournament looking to win matches. In the past, CCC have played well in these tournaments and have beaten all the territories for the exception of Jamaica, so I believe once we put together a good side and keep them positive and in the winning frame of mind, I think we will do well in the Tournament.
On the roles of former West Indies fast bowlers Tony Gray and Pedro Collins during preparation:
It’s good that we have such expertise on board – and both of them played international cricket. . .You know we previously worked with (West Indies fast bowling legend) Curtly Ambrose, but he is now with the West Indies senior team. We like to give people opportunities and we recognise talent so as a university we want to help people develop, so both Tony and Pedro have an opportunity to bring their coaching skills and expand their horizons. We have a lot of fast bowlers in training – around seven or eight just bursting to get onto the scene – so to have Tony and Pedro will be valuable.
On key players to watch:
We have Chadwick Walton. He has been with the programme from its inception and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies. We have the experience of off-spinner Ryan Austin and young Kavem Hodge. He has been batting very well over the last year and scored four hundreds in club cricket in Barbados and it appears that his game has moved to another level. And there are a number of young players that are coming on-board from whom we expect to see good performances.