CUL DE SAC--The Motorworld Twenty20 final is set to bowl off tomorrow at 1:00pm at the Caribe Lumber Ballpark. Caribbean General Contractors (CGC) Spartanz is the only team that has booked a place in the final.
Quite interestingly, the team qualified for the final since November 6 and have not played any Motorworld Twenty20 cricket since that last qualifying match. After sitting and waiting for more than a month for an opponent in the final, the Spartanz team has been placed in conundrum which could only be described as advantageous disadvantaged.
The tournament rules allowed for the team that topped the table to advance straight to the final; however, with such an early qualification, the Spartanz are at a disadvantage after not playing cricket for such a long time.
Teams sometimes complain about such scheduling which has advantages and disadvantages but most of the players from the Spartanz team are national players which placed them a notch above the average player. In the final of this year's Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the team that topped the table was bowled for 95 runs in the final; another argument that these long delays affect the team's psyche.
Some clear disadvantages are losing momentum, losing form, tight muscles and distracted from the task. In fact, the majority of the Spartanz players did not train this week which has not allowed the team to gel before the big final.
The Motorworld top run scorer Sherwin Peters has been on the field regularly fine tuning his batting skills. He usually works hard on his batting skills which have yielded two impressive centuries in this tournament. His appetite for runs could see another big score in the final.
Akeem Charles has also been training consistently in the nets. His batting form along with Dameon Williams and Gregorio Ritchie are essential for the Spartanz as a batting unit. It will be left to see how the long rest from competitive cricket would affect these batsmen.
In the bowling department, Captain Kenroy David is a proven leader of the bowling attack. As Captain of the team, he does not make SOS calls because he is the answer. Whenever, the Spartanz are in trouble, David introduces himself into the attack and on many occasions shifted the match in favor of his team. He hardly ever trains at the cricket field so it's a mystery how he turns up for every match and bowls accurately and fast. Added to his accuracy and speed is some guile with slower balls and toe-crushing yorkers. David's leadership has also been development tournament after tournament; one important factor that the Spartanz are such a quality team.
The advantageous disadvantaged case would surely be brushed aside by the Spartanz who are always a confident group of cricketers but teams look for excuses when the expected results was not achieved at the end of the match.
Spartanz await the winner of the Future Champs versus Conquerors clash today. The Spartanz have beaten both teams in the preliminary round. If Future Champs win, left arm spinner Daniel Doram and fast bowler Antonio Fernandez would be two bowlers the Spartanz will have face up to in the final. These two bowlers are weapons for Spartanz but could possibly be thorn in the flesh in the final if their first choice team Future Champs advance to the final.
The anxieties have reach the crescendo-let the games being.
