T&T Redforce captain Denesh Ramdin is hopeful that the young team under his care in the new season of the Professional Cricket League 4-Day tournament grows from strength to strength with his guidance.
Ramdin hammered a first innings hundred and followed up with a half-century in the second innings to earn the Player-of-the-Match award, as his side earned a draw with fierce rivals Barbados Pride in their first-round match at Kensington Oval.
The former Windies captain passed 6,000 first-class career runs during the match and said it was exciting be back on the park for this format of the game, after a long period and playing white-ball matches around the globe. “I wasn’t sure if I would have been able to concentrate long enough to be successful, but it appears that I still have something left in the tank,” Ramdin said.
“I was able to spend collectively five to six hours in the middle, which is good, and so hopefully I will be able to get better and better as the season wears on. I however, am hoping that the younger players can step up and take some pressure off me, so that we can get into better positions and win some games.”
With most of the first day on Thursday lost due to rain, the Redforce returned on Friday to post 300 in their first innings, with Ramdin scoring 101, while youngsters Ewart Nicholson and Jeremy Solozano getting half-centuries .
Ramdin, Nicholson and opener Amir Jangoo also hit second innings half-centuries to prompt a Red Force declaration on 257 for five in their second innings, however, they could not pick up enough Barbados results in order to force a result.
Ramdin said: “We will go back home now, reassess and try to make the most of our home games coming up to get some victories under our belt.”
In the next round, the Redforce hosts the Jamaica Scorpions at the Brian Lara Academy in Tarouba, a contest which Ramdin is looking forward to keenly.