DOMINANT: Trinidad and Tobago players celebrate with the Twenty20 for 50 Cricket Festival trophy after defeating Jamaica by six wickets in the final at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain on Sunday night. T&T pocketed US$20,000 for winning the Festival, which was held as part of T&T's 50th Independence anniversary celebrations. See Page 58 —Photo: ISHMAEL SALANDY

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Williams: Champs T&T stand up to pressure

By Roger Seepersad

Trinidad and Tobago coach David Williams believes his players came out of the Twenty20 for 50 Cricket Festival stronger and more confident in their ability to get the job done.

The national team secured a six-wicket victory over Jamaica to win the Festival on Sunday night at the Queen's Park Oval, but had to get through some tough battles, which Williams said tested them.

The T&T coach said he is seeing improvement in the areas that they have been working on and is happy to see the players stepping up when the team were under pressure.

"The good thing is we were able to chase and come out in top. You are always under pressure when you are chasing. Mentally, we will be stronger and more confident," said Williams.

Trinidad and Tobago were under the gun in the first match with a last-ball win over the Brian Lara All Star team on Friday. The T&T batting was tested further against the Daren Ganga All Stars on Saturday when they were set 90 to win in a rain-reduced ten-over match.

Jason Mohammed starred in that seven-wicket victory, hitting 38 off 14 balls.

In Sunday's final, Denesh Ramdin's men were set 115 to win and they eventually got there for the loss of four wickets with seven balls to spare.

Looking back at the games, the coach said: "Our main concern was the middle overs and the batsmen have done extremely well. That was an area we were working on. Those overs from seven to 14 have been giving us some problems, but the batsmen did well to come out on top.

"It was always going to be difficult to chase, especially on a wicket that does not suit stroke-playing. I thought the guys adapted very well and it is a plus for us," he added.

In terms of the team's batting at the top of the order, Williams said they were still trying out different combinations and insisted it was not a concern for them as they continue their build-up for the Champions League T20, which will be contested in South Africa from October 9.

"The top of the order is not 100 per cent settled as yet...we are still giving players an opportunity to select themselves, but the top order is not a problem for us. It has not been a problem for us in the past and we know we have guys there that can give us a good start," Williams added.

During the Festival, T&T used Lendl Simmons, Adrian Barath, William Perkins and Evin Lewis at the top of the order with mixed results.

Barath and Simmons posted ten for the first wicket in the first match, while Lewis and Perkins had an opening stand of eight in the second match, and Perkins and Simmons gave T&T the best start with a 22-run partnership in the final.

In terms of the bowling department, Williams said the bowlers have always done the job for the national team.

"We never had a problem bowling out sides or defending totals. We are still missing a few guys...Ravi (Rampaul) was out (of the squad for the Festival) and Shannon (Gabriel) is coming back (from injury). The bowling has been going well and we are hoping they carry on in that vein," he said.

The T&T coach also praised the efforts of Jason Mohammed.

"We always knew he had the ability and to see him come good in that second game was tremendous for the team and for his own personal confidence. We hope he can keep that up...we know he can be a dangerous batsman in the middle order and it was good to see that he came good," said Williams.

T&T continue their preparations with training sessions leading up to their next pre-Champions League outing, in the Asia versus the Caribbean International T20 tournament at the Oval from September 6-8.

That tournament will feature tougher opponents in Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who are both preparing for the ICC T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, which bowls off on September 18.

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