Monday 12th October 2009
“We don’t want to be predictable”
The spinning troika of Dave Mohammed, Samuel Badree and Sherwin Ganga spun webs of befuddlement around the Somerset batsmen.
By Dominic Franks
The three were fundamental in getting Trinidad & Tobago's campaign in the Champions League Twenty20 off to a winning start at the Chinnaswamy stadium today.
While cricket fans around the world will be stunned to see three spinners make the line-up of a team from the Caribbean, Somerset captain Justin Langer said his team had an inkling of what was in store for them. "Omari Banks who plays for us told us to watch out for the two leg spinners (Mohammed and Badree). Last night we studied videos of them but they played the conditions extremely well."
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Commending his leg-spinner Max Waller for putting the breaks on an explosive batting start by Trinidad & Tobago, Langer felt the pitch suited the turning ball. "Max took a couple of wickets for very little, and then their spinners came on and took the game away from us. That was the turning point of the game."
T&T captain Darren Ganga walked into the post-match press conference with the red, white and black flag of the island nation draped around his shoulders. When asked how a team from a cricketing region famous for producing some of the most fearsome fast bowlers over the years decided to go into a game with three spinners, Ganga's response was emphatic, "We've seen the top West Indian teams of the 1970s and ‘80s rely on great fast bowlers. But times have changed. You look at any top side in the world, and I'm not just talking about national sides, they all have one thing in common- a quality spinner. It's about time we stopped under-rating our spinners. I still say that the powers that be in the West Indies selection committee do not give our spinners the opportunities they deserve."
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Trinidad & Tobago play the Deccan Chargers on Wednesday in a game that the Chargers must win to stay alive in the tournament. Asked how his spinners would manage against the Indian batsmen who are traditionally good players of spin, Ganga oozed confidence and attitude, "We know Trinidad & Tobago will be under the microscope now that we have to play Deccan Chargers. We know they have a good middle order capable of playing spin well, but while that's all well and good we have a versatile side and we don't want to be predictable. So with all due respect to Deccan Chargers we're going to play the kind of Twenty20 game that we want, we're going to play cricket Trinidad & Tobago style."
With a conventional leg-spinner, a left arm chinaman and an off-spinner to back up Dwayne Bravo and Ravi Rampaul, Trinidad & Tobago have every right to lay claim to being adaptable, versatile and unpredictable.
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