Captains looking to reap success at National T20 League

Following a preliminary round that produced unexpected results, the semifinals of the inaugural National T20 League, sponsored by BetCAGESports under the patronage of His Excellency Dr. Irfaan Ali, would commence today with Berbice Piranhas, Demerara Pitbulls, Essequibo Jaguars and Essequibo Anacondas participating.
With both matches being played at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara (EBD), the first semifinal match would see Essequibo Jaguars looking to continue their impressive performance in the tournament when they come up against Berbice Piranhas at 14:00hrs.
Then Demerara Pitbulls would battle Essequibo Anacondas under lights at 19:00hrs.
At the pre-match press conference on Thursday, media operatives spoke to each captain. Demerara Pitbulls skipper Christopher Barnwell emphasised the areas that need improvement and the importance of keeping the momentum when he said, “It was a decent tournament so far. The guys played excellent cricket. We had two off days where we didn’t get things done well in the field, and that caused us two games. But we know where we went wrong as a group, and also as individuals, we know what we need to do as a team going into the semifinals, coming up against a good Esssequibo team. We had the better of them in the early rounds, so it’s important for us to continue in the same vein, and even better what we did in the early group stage games.”
Captain of Essequibo Anacondas, Anthony Adams, expounded that the powerplay would be key to the game and their aim to get the win.
“Our last game, I thought we fell short in the powerplay, which affected us from getting the total that we wanted on the board, which would have helped us to feel comfortable going into the second innings.
“Nevertheless, we fought, (but) it didn’t go the way we wanted it,” Adams shared.
He added, “We lost the game in the last ball. So, like I said, the powerplay for us is going to be key moving into this semifinal against Pitbulls.
“As Christopher Barnwell said, our last encounter, they won that, so we’re looking to…or even come even with them come tomorrow.”
Akshaya Persaud, Vice- Captain of the Berbice Piranhas, detailed the key aspects needed to win the game and eradicate the image created as underdogs.
Persaud said, “Coming into tournaments, we have sort of been labelled as the underdogs, and we have so far shown a good image of our team. We have a young team, and winning these games, we gel as a team, everybody pulls their own weight. Coming into tomorrow, we just stick to our strengths, back ourselves as a team, and everybody do their thing.”
Meanwhile, Essequibo Jaguars Captain Ricardo Adams on what has worked for the team, identified their ability to bounce back from one loss suffered in order to reap success.
The National T20 League’s third-place playoff and final are scheduled for the same venue today. The action begins with a Women’s exhibition match from 10:00hrs today.