00:00The Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tiruba was the venue for Wednesday's practice
00:04match as Trinidad and Tobago Red Force will be going all out to defend their
00:08regional Super 50 crown. The tournament will be hosted in Trinidad with that
00:12ground being one of the venues along with the Queen's Park Oval and UE Spec.
00:16The team will be led by Windy's Test cricketer Joshua De Silva for whom
00:20captaining the national team is nothing new. Always ready, always raring to go
00:25and we have the preparations going on now with the third practice match. The
00:28boys are excited so we're just waiting to see what the results are of the games
00:33and then pick the final team to make that squad that we're gonna
00:38defend the title with. Don't think too much about defending the title but the
00:41process in getting to the final and then winning the final it all starts
00:45from ball one on the 29th so all in all yes we have to defend the title but how
00:50are we going to defend the title is the message I'm looking to send across to
00:53the boys. As a leader his first aim is to create a comfortable environment for his
00:57colleagues and then take it from there. Speaking of which a couple big names
01:02may be missing this year so does it make De Silva's job any tougher? I don't
01:07think so the kind of experience that we have here we have Jason Mohamed, Carey
01:10Payer, Django has played some of the state cricket he's been around Trinidad
01:14set up Brian Charles has been around even though he hasn't played let's say
01:17cricket for Trinidad before this may be his first time so we have experience
01:22around in the team that that can lead this team and yeah for me I don't see
01:26it as a challenge I see it as a blessing having these guys on the team. Besides
01:29being defending champions TNT have the most 50 over titles at regional level
01:34the number being 14 as such De Silva has a message for John Public ahead of the
01:39competition. Yeah well I mean it's Trinidad and Tobago playing we all love
01:43to see Trinidad and Tobago do well when Trinidad and Tobago cricket is doing
01:47well all of the country is happy so yeah we're gonna pour our heart and soul
01:52into this tournament and and hopefully get the results for the country we are
01:55backing I back the boys and I know a lot of people will be backing us and
01:59hopefully they can and hopefully I want the guys to have the support so if
02:03Trinidad and Tobago come out and support us greatly appreciated we know 50 overs is
02:07long but one day two days whatever just come help us help us and that 12th man
02:12is really important in these times especially coming down to the to the end
02:15of the tournament the middle of the tournament we want to start well so yeah
02:18the support is always greatly appreciated. On a personal level De Silva
02:22wants to impress the West Indies selectors with bat and gloves but the
02:25hope of playing both white ball formats he has two ODIs in maroon colors under
02:31his belt against host nation Bangladesh in 2021 while being uncapped in the
02:36abridged format. For me I just want to put my hand up for ODI selection that is
02:41something that is on my mind I haven't scored enough runs in the
02:44De Silva fifth days prior but this year I'm really looking to put my foot down
02:47and just put my name in the hat and see what I can do personally. Of course it's
02:51always on your mind you want to play all formats you want to play as much cricket
02:54as you can representing West Indies at any level is always an honor of course
02:58test cricket is is what I've fell in love with and is what I've pretty much
03:01done for most of my career but to play ODI cricket and T20 cricket for West Indies
03:05it would be a dream I've done the ODI bit but to play there more consistently
03:10and that I eventually hopefully get into the T20 team it all goes by
03:14stepping stone so I have to have good CPS opportunities there haven't put my
03:18hand up enough in those areas to warrant that selection on the T20 team so yeah
03:23when those opportunities come and hopefully I can take both of them
03:27with both hands and when it does happen hopefully I get a chance.
03:30At list A level De Silva has played 25 matches scoring one century and three
03:36fifties while averaging 30.60. Vinod Nawani TV6 Sport
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