Port-of-Spain, Trinidad – The Combined Campuses and Colleges won’t be "backing off" of anyone when they come face-to-face with the region’s best in the upcoming Caribbean T20 tournament. The CCC have blown hot and cold in the three previous tournaments and believe this year they could upset the apple cart and lift the cup.
Floyd Reifer, the experienced player/coach is of the opinion that inexperience has affected his charges in the past, but said he has seen a steely resolve which has been evident in recent months and his players have grown in the game.
An example of this happened earlier this week when they went toe-to-toe with Barbados at the 3Ws Oval on a two-match series. Two new faces – seamer Keswick Williams from St Vincent and left-arm spinner Derone Davis from Trinidad – were the stand-out players and are expected to feature prominently in the coming weeks.
"Inexperience comes out a lot especially under pressure. Pressure brings the best out of people, sometimes it brings the worst out of people," said Reifer as his team prepared for the tournament. "I try to teach my guys how to handle the pressure and how to operate under pressure. One thing you don’t do under pressure is panic.
"Once you push that panic button you’re dead! What we don’t want to do is push the panic button. We try our best to remain as calm as possible while analysing the situation all the time and again, that’s where roles come in to play. You have guys that play certain roles."
Reifer, who is a former Barbados stalwart and West Indies captain back in 2009, has been a stabilising force in the CCC. He said fans can expect his side to continue to improve with experience.
"To be fair to CCC, I think we have played some of the best T20 cricket in the Caribbean T20. In that first year of the tournament started, we tied with Barbados twice chasing 180," he said.
Back then, on a tension-filled night at Kensington Oval, Reifer belted a boundary off the last ball of the innings as a courageous CCC outfit chased down Barbados’ 180 to finish with scores level. In the one-over eliminator, CCC seemed to have the upper hand in defending 16 runs when Romel Currency stepped on the boundary ropes in taking a catch off the final ball, giving the Bajans the six runs they needed to tie the game again and win the contest by virtue of the superior number of sixes during the innings. This remains the closest finish in Caribbean T20.
"We had some good games, but it was just the inexperience at the time in our bowling department [that] killed us. As we go on, our guys will get better and better with more experience."
Reifer added: "It (T20) is a new game to a lot of the guys. The guys are improving but one of the things that hamper us all the time is that we can’t keep a team together. Once a guy comes to CCC and he shines, his particular territory is going to take him up. I know our mandate is to produce cricketers for the territories, but I would love to have a set team for at least three years and I’m sure we could win a major title."
This year CCC will have some of the familiar faces who have represented the unit from the inception. Reifer will be joined by his younger cousin Ramon Reifer, who has emerged as skilled allrounder.
Also in the line-up are big allrounder Jason Holder, fast bowler Kevin McClean and stylish wicket-keeper/batsman Kyle Corbin – who all came through the Sagicor High Performance Centre programme and were members of the West Indies A Team which beat India A last year. Experienced keeper Chadwick Walton and off-spinner Ryan Austin, who featured in Test matches against Bangladesh back in 2009, are in the squad as well.
FULL SQUADS
Barbados: Dwayne Smith (Captain), Shamarh Brooks (Vice Captain), Sulieman Benn, Tino Best, Carlos Brathwaite, Justin Brathwaite, , Jonathan Carter, Rolston Chase, Shane Dowrich, Fidel Edwards, Ryan Hinds, Kyle Mayers, Ashley Nurse, Javon Searles,.
Combined Campuses and Colleges: Kyle Corbin (Captain), Sunil Ambris, Ryan Austin, Derone Davis, Akeem Dewar, Jason Holder, Kevin McClean, Wayne Morgan, Kristopher Ramsaran, Floyd Reifer, Raymon Reifer, Chadwick Walton, Ryan Wiggins, Kesrick Williams.
Guyana: Veerasammy Permaul (Captain), Christopher Barnwell (Vice Captain), Ronsford Beaton, Devendra Bishoo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Derwin Christian, Royston Crandon, Narsingh Deonarine, Jonathan Foo, Trevon Griffith, Steven Jacobs, Leon Johnson, Rajiv Ivan, Ramnaresh Sarwan.
Jamaica: Tamar Lambert (Captain), David Bernard Jr. (Vice Captain) Nkrumah Bonner, Odean Brown, John Campbell, Sheldon Cotterell, Yannick Elliott, Danza Hyatt, Andre McCarthy, Jamie Merchant, Nikita Miller, Andre Russell, Krishmar Santokie, Aldane Thomas.
Leeward Islands: Sylvester Joseph (Captain), Kieran Powell (Vice Captain), Justin Athanaze, Shane Burton, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jahmar Hamilton, Chesney Hughes, Javia Liburd, Anthony Martin, Lyndel Richardson, Garvin Tonge, Devon Thomas, Kelbert Walters, Tonito Willett.
Trinidad and Tobago: Denesh Ramdin (Captain), Darren Bravo (Vice Captain), Samuel Badree, Dwayne Bravo, Kevon Cooper, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Yannick Ottley, Evin Lewis, William Perkins, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Lendl Simmons.
Windward Islands: Darren Sammy (Captain), Miles Bascombe, Tade Carmichael, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Lyndon James, Delorn Johnson, Keddy Lesporis, Garey Mathurin, Kenroy Peters, Nelon Pascal, Liam Sebastien, Shane Shillingford, Devon Smith.
FULL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
(AT QUEEN’S PARK OVAL, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad)
Sunday, January 6
Opening Ceremony – 4 p.m.
Trinidad & Tobago vs Jamaica – 8 p.m.
Monday, January 7
Barbados vs Leeward Islands – 4 p.m.
Guyana vs Combined Campuses & Colleges – 8 p.m.
Tuesday, January 8
Jamaica vs Barbados – 4 p.m.
Trinidad & Tobago vs Combined Campuses & Colleges – 8 p.m.
Wednesday, January 9
Windward Islands vs Jamaica – 4 p.m.
Trinidad & Tobago vs Leeward Islands – 8 p.m.
Thursday, January 10
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Windward Islands – 4 p.m.
Guyana vs Barbados – 8 p.m.
Friday, January 11
Leeward Islands vs Jamaica – 4 p.m.
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Barbados – 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 12
Windward Islands vs Leeward Islands – 4 p.m.
Trinidad & Tobago vs Guyana – 8 p.m.
(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.