Jamaica launch T20 assault against CCC

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

Jamaica, keen on winning the Caribbean Twenty20 Tournament for the first time, will open their account against the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) today at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua and Barbuda.

The team, which is without Chris Gayle who is currently participating in the Australia Big Bash Twenty20 League, will be hoping to make a winning start as they seek to better their third-place finish in the inaugural edition in Trinidad and Tobago, and their fourth-place finish in Barbados last year.

"We have to hit the road running from our first game, as our first ambition is to get to the semi-finals and then take it from there," said captain David Bernard Jr prior to the team's departure on Sunday.

"I believe we have a good team with a good blend of youth and experience and our chances are as good as any, so it is for us to just go out there play together as a team and try to win the tournament."

Jamaica's squad includes the the tournament's leading runs scorer for the past two stagings, Marlon Samuels, in-form allrounder Andre Russell, wicketkeeper-batsman Carlton Baugh Jr, Danza Hyatt, Nikita Miller, Shawn Findlay, Krishmar Santokie and Bernard Jr, all of whom have represented the West Indies in this format of the game.

The CCC, which has never made it past the preliminary round of the tournament, will look to a number of players who were part of the West Indies Cricket Board/Sagicor High Performance Centre team, which made in the semi-finals of the regional Super50 Tournament last year. These include fast bowlers Kevin McClean and Jason McClean, and batsmen Yannick Ottley, Kyle Myers and Kyle Hope.

Four-day title

The CCC team also has four Jamaicans. They are wicketkeeper-batsman Chadwick Walton, Akeem Dewar and Jason Dawes, who were part of Jamaica's team which won the regional four-day title for a record fourth time in a row last year, and all-rounder Herman Henry.

The match, which will be the feature game of a double-header, is slated to get underway at 7 p.m. (Jamaica time) and will be shown live of cable television network ESPN. The opener will see guest teams Sussex Sharks, England's Twenty20 champions and Inter-national Cricket Council associate member, The Netherlands, squaring off at 3 p.m. (Jamaica time).