RAYAD EMRIT ON RED FORCE

CCNTV6

Assistant coach Rayad Emrit says even though Team Red Force is capable of winning the four-day title, it's how the players approach the situation to bring success.  TV6 met with Emrit while he was conducting a training session with the T&T cricketers in Endeavour on Wednesday.

Transcript

00:00Preparations are in progress for the 2025 Regional 40 tournament, with Brian Charles

00:07leading the side in the opening match. Like the other teams, the TNT Red Force players

00:12too have been hard at work, with a practice session on Wednesday taking place at the Evolution

00:16Indoor Nets in Endeavour. Former cricketer Riyad Emrit, who is now assistant coach, was

00:21busy doing his part to get the players ready for competition.

00:25We had the North-South game and we had another practice game after the North-South game,

00:29so the guys got a couple of games outside in the middle. We were hoping to have this

00:35entire week out in the middle again, unfortunately, due to the weather. We haven't been able to

00:40do that, so hopefully in the next couple of days we can get some more outside practice.

00:45I think we need that heading into the tournament, you don't want to stay indoors too much.

00:49Conditions obviously will be different outdoors, so we're hoping to get a couple of sessions

00:53in outdoors.

00:54Now at 43, Emrit had many enjoyable moments with Trinidad and Tobago Red Force as a player.

01:00Now that he's working with the team in a different capacity, the responsibilities have also changed.

01:05So what's the chemistry like between players and coaching staff?

01:08I think it's been good for me. I've played with and against most of the players in the

01:14team, so I kind of get that respect from them. It goes both ways obviously, so you have to

01:22earn your respect. I think it's been good so far. Yes, Brian is going to captain the

01:27team for the first game, Joshua is the national team captain, and when he's back he will take

01:32over.

01:33It's been close to two decades that TNT Red Force last lifted the Regional 40 title, and

01:38it's been often asked, when next? According to Emrit, the work has been done, and it's

01:43left to the players to go out there and execute in the best way possible.

01:47We say this every year that we're capable. Yes, we are capable. I think we just need

01:51to be smart about how we play cricket. There's a lot of talent in this room, in this squad

01:58there's a lot of talent, and obviously there's a lot more guys playing international cricket

02:02now, so if we can bring back that experience and the culture, we need to change a bit of

02:08our culture as well. Yes, it's been a very long time, 2007, and hopefully with being

02:15involved in the system now I can bring back that winning habit of four-day cricket.

02:20The former TNT and West Indies player is fully aware that fans tend to gravitate towards

02:24the faster version of the game, whereas spectators hardly attend the four-day format. As such,

02:30he has a message for the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

02:33We urge them to come out and support the team. It's a denied encounter, the first game is

02:37a denied encounter, and it's good that we can get the support from the public. There's

02:43always a handful there who's sharing us on, but if we can get a lot more coming out, I

02:48can guarantee there's a lot of young, exciting players who will be part of the set-up now,

02:53so come out and give them that support.

02:55TNT's opening day-night game is against CCC at the Brian Lauer Cricket Academy in Taruba,

03:00and blows off on January 29th.

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