The Trinidad and Tobago cricketers were unfazed by an eight-wicket loss to Auckland Aces in their Champions League Twenty20 practice match, at Centurion, South Africa on Sunday, with manager Omar Khan insisting the game served its purpose.

"It was just a practice game and the result really does not affect the confidence of the team ahead of the tournament," Khan told the Express, yesterday.

"We came in on Saturday and the guys really did not have a lot of time to adjust.

"It was a practice game and at the end of the day we were able to identify what we need to do differently here in South Africa, and the players are taking the positives out of that game and working hard to adjust quickly to the conditions," Khan explained.

The T&T manager said they are monitoring an injury to allrounder Kevon Cooper, who was their top batsman in the clash with Auckland Aces.

T&T were struggling at 14 for two after William Perkins (four) and Adrian Barath (three) were dismissed cheaply. Evin Lewis (23) and Jason Mohammed (42) brought the Caribbean side back into contention. But the star of the innings was Cooper, who scored an unbeaten 32-ball 62 to help his team to a competitive 151 for six in 20 overs.

The Kiwi team reached their target in the 17th over, Martin Guptill (58) and Lou Vincent (46 not out) setting up the win with their 101-run partnership for the first wicket.

Khan said Cooper suffered a groin injury during the match.

"It is not as bad as we originally thought. The physiotherapist, Oba Gulston is treating it aggressively and we hope that with that aggressive treatment, he will be ready for the first game."

T&T are one of six teams that will play in the qualifying round of the tournament, this week.

T&T are in Qualifying Pool 2, and will take on England T20 runners-up Yorkshire, tomorrow at Centurion, and Sri Lanka champions Uva Next, on Thursday at Johannesburg.

Hampshire, Sailkot Stallions and Auckland Aces are in Qualifying Pool 1.

The T&T manager confirmed that the five T&T players from the West Indies World Cup winning team--Denesh Ramdin, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Ravi Rampaul and Samuel Badree--will arrive in South Africa today to join the squad.

"I think they will come here hyped up with that positive vibe from being part of the team that won the World Cup, and that should augur well for us," said Khan.

The qualifying tournament bowls off today with Yorkshire tackling Uva Next and Auckland taking on the Stallions, at Johannesburg.

Summarised Scores:

T&T 151/6 (20 overs) (Kevon Cooper 62 not out, Jason Mohammed 42; Mitchell McClenaghan 2/23, Ronnie Hira 1/20) vs Auckland Aces 153/2 (16.1 overs) (Martin Guptill 58, Lou Vincent 46 not out; Rayad Emrit 1/25, Shannon Gabriel 1/30)--Aces won by 8 wickets