Bridgetown (Barbados), Sep 9 (IANS/CMC) Barbados Tridents head coach Desmond Haynes has fully endorsed Rayad Emrit’s appointment as captain for the upcoming Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) in India.
Emrit takes over from Kieron Pollard who led the Tridents during the recently staged Caribbean Premier League (CPL) but is unavailable because of his commitments to Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians, reports CMC.
“Coaching in the Champions League T20 will be a fantastic experience, and I’m delighted to be supported by Rayad as captain,” Haynes said.
“He demonstrated his capabilities as a natural leader throughout our recent CPL campaign and was a straight-forward choice to lead the team. I’ve very much enjoyed working with the boys and I’m confident we can make an impression against some of the world’s best.”
He added: “Rayad has a lot of experience captaining Trinidad for the last couple of years so even though Polly (Pollard) has done a fantastic job for us in the CPL, we are sure Rayad will be able to handle the side very well.”
Emrit played in all 10 matches of the Tridents CPL campaign and contested the 2013 Champions League for his native Trinidad and Tobago when they managed to reach the semi-final before being knocked out by Mumbai.
“It’s an honour to lead the Barbados Tridents into the most prestigious tournament in domestic T20 cricket. It’s a chance for us to pit our wits against some of the best-known teams around, and show the rest of the world the amount of talent that exists within the CPL,” Emrit said.
“Polly (Pollard) has been doing an excellent job for the Tridents for the last two years. Hopefully, I can do the same if not go one step further and go all the way and bring another title for us.
Tridents will be also missing Dwayne Smith who has commitments with Chennai Super Kings, and Shoaib Malik who will be playing for Australian Big Bash side Hobart Hurricanes.
The Barbados franchise qualified for the CLT20 when they beat Guyana Amazon Warriors in a rain-hit final of the CPL at Warner Park in St. Kitts last month.
Tridents face Kings XI Punjab in their opening game Sep 20, in the tournament that runs until Oct 6.