By Roger Seepersad
Trinidad and Tobago skipper Daren Ganga expects the upcoming four-nation Twenty20 tournament in Canada to provide a good challenge for his team and an opportunity to gauge where they are in terms of their preparations for the Champions League T20 qualifiers in India next month.
T&T leave today for Canada, where they will play Afghanistan tomorrow, the United States on Friday and hosts Canada on Saturday, with all matches being played at Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City.
Ganga said while the quadrangular tournament will be a big challenge, it will also provide opportunities for the players to be involved in competitive matches, for the national selectors to have another look before selecting the final team for India and for the technical staff to determine what areas need to be worked on ahead of the Champions League T20.

“It (the Canada tour) will give us an opportunity to see the guys playing in a competitive environment and hopefully we can see the kind of scores that we would like to get when we travel to India,” the captain told the Express yesterday.
Big scores were rare in the trial matches leading up to the tour. Only three half-centuries were scored–by Daren Ganga, Sherwin Ganga and Justin Guillen–but the team’s batting is not a big concern for Ganga at this stage of their preparation.
“It’s good to not be where you want to be, especially at this stage because you want to peak as a team and peak at the right time,” Ganga explained.
“We are building momentum right up until we get to India so I am not too worried about their form right now. We have been working on our strength and fitness as a group and this is an opportunity to get in some competitive matches and it is also the final build-up to selectors making the determination of the 15 players to represent T&T.”
Not making the trip to Canada are all-rounders Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, along with West Indies fast bowler Ravi Rampaul and middle order batsman Darren Bravo.
Speaking about the team’s build-up for the Champions League, Ganga said: “So far it has gone well. We would have liked to have more sessions in the middle, more practice games, match simulations, fielding drills, training in the middle and this Canada trip will give us an opportunity to achieve some of those things and this will give a good indication of where we are and what we need to do.”
Ganga also noted they have done more work for this year’s tournament as compared to what they did ahead of the 2009 competition, where they finished runners-up to New South Wales Blues of Australia.
“There will always be room for improvement and things that can be put in place to be better prepared,” Ganga continued. “But we are making the most of what we have available.
“In 2009, our only competitive environment was a small trip to Guyana. Yes we are doing more this time around but it’s about the quality and intensity (of our training) as a team. We have done a lot of work…now it’s about fine-tuning our entire game.”
T&T Squad: Daren Ganga (captain), Rayad Emrit, Samuel Badree, William Perkins, Denesh Ramdin, Sherwin Ganga, Adrian Barath, Jason Mohammed, Dave Mohammed, Justin Guillen, Imran Khan, Richard Kelly, Navin Stewart, Aneil Kanhai
Officials: Omar Khan (Manager), David Williams (Coach), Ronald Rogers (Trainer)