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  • 2 years ago
Central Sports Cricket Club completed the double over the weekend when they recaptured the TT Cricket Board T20 Festival title.

Central Sports took down Powergen by 5 wickets in the final, a feat that its owner Richard Ramkissoon says was made possible because they stuck to the plan.
Transcript
00:00Speaking on their second title win this season, Central Sports owner Richard Ramkisson reflected
00:05on what it took to go all the way in defending their TTCB T20 crown. He said they chased 200
00:12in the semis and there was some uncertainty whether they could do it again. So he said
00:17it required some changes to the batting lineup. We had to shift the batting order a little bit
00:22Again, with the technical crew, myself, Riyad Emirate head coach, Lionel Simmons,
00:29captain and Anil Lakhan, coach, we decided to put in Jesse Bhutan on the top because you know
00:35Jesse is a man, he's a devastating batsman. Give him too few overs, the bat could destroy him.
00:41So said, so done. He gave us that start, exactly what we needed and the rest, I mean, is history.
00:48I mean, the batsmen went out there and did their job, you know, so I mean, it is really,
00:52you know, you know, you could plan something but then when you when it actually materialized,
00:57you know, it overwhelms you and that is the reason why I use the word unbelievable, you know.
01:02Is it the norm now for teams to chase or score 200?
01:05If you don't score 200 runs in a T20 match in this modern era, I think most likely you better
01:11pack your bag and go home because if you watch the IPL, you know, I mean, 200, 210, 220 is easy
01:17to make. If you look at our competition, the game against Queen's Park and Marchant, over 200,
01:24I think it's close to 240 runs were scored by each team. Marchant lost that just in the final
01:29over. We, Clarkwood scored 219 against us and we overturned that score, 220. Same thing with
01:36PowerGen, 210 and such a score to be able to overturn that with scoring 311. So it's not that
01:45the bowling was poor, it's just that the standard and the planning and the approach by cricketers
01:51is completely different now.
01:53Batsman Lendl Simmons has been their anchor up the order.
01:56Ramkisson said he is a welcomed member of the team.
02:00Wow. As I said in the team meeting, to have an individual like Lendl Simmons with that vast
02:07cricketing experience worldwide is a tremendous touch on my shoulder to get him to come and,
02:17you know, play for us. I mean, he played for us a couple of seasons, but he wasn't really involved
02:21too much in it. But he approached me in December last year and he said, Manage, I want to play
02:27all the versions of the cricket that is yet to be offered by the TPCB in 2024. And I was so
02:34surprised, you know.
02:35Now, he says they are chasing the 50-over title.
02:38And if they complete that, they would have sealed the triple crown.
02:42We are now two titles in the bag. So we're going after that 50-over. We have won all games so far,
02:49except the one against Clapwood was really no. So we are up top on the table and we are really
02:55confident that we're going to overcome PowerGen over the weekend and get into that, go straight
02:59to the final on the 25th. As I said, words might not be able to describe the feeling of the team
03:06if we are able to achieve this really, really rare feat.
03:11Crucial to winning that crown, he says, is getting players to play their role.
03:16If players don't understand their role and what role they have to play in a team,
03:22you're going to have a problem. Then, you know, it comes like you'll be operating without a head,
03:26so you must understand your role. And we're going to work on that this week and next week in terms
03:30of everybody's role and what we need them to do and what we need them to achieve.
03:33And once the players understand and fulfil their role,
03:37victory is going to be very, I mean, nothing is easy, but we are most likely going to get that
03:43victory. We are highly confident.
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