Bravo happy to skipper Red Steel

(Trinidad Express) West Indies one-day captain Dwayne Bravo says he is very happy to be the National Lotteries Control Board-sponsored Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel captain, as he prepares for the July 30 start to the Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament.

“It is a new format, a new style of cricket in the region. For me to be the captain, to lead the Red Steel, it is a great pleasure and I have a very good talented, all round bunch of guys and I am really looking forward to the tournament and looking forward to leading the entire team,” Bravo said, adding that he was also honoured to be one of the six West Indies icons for the series. At the NLCB media launch of the Red Steel team yesterday, Bravo said all six teams (the Guyana Amazon Warriors, the Jamaica Tallawahs, The Antigua Hawksbills, the Barbados Tridents and the St Lucia Zouks are the others) “are evenly balanced teams” and will all form worthy opponents.

“In cricket, you have to be aware of every team, it doesn’t matter if you think that one team is stronger than the other…I am very happy with my team to be honest. I think I have the most balanced team but cricket plays on its day. Let’s see how it goes. I can assure you that we are gonna give a very good account of ourselves. It will be always a feat to win the first tournament so that’s our focus and let’s see how it goes”.

Bravo said it would be easy for the team to gel as a mini camp for local players will supplement the international players. Manager of the Red Steel Colin Borde said that the CPL T20 signals a new era in cricket in T&T and a new era in Caribbean cricket because the franchise-type cricket, “ is gonna be held to the highest standards, the highest level of professionalism.”