TT vs SOM - Trinidad Open Campaign Against Somerset

Bangalore: The Champions League will add the rich Caribbean flavour on its platter when West Indian domestic T20 champions Trinidad and Tobago open their campaign against Somerset Sabres on Monday.

Though the islanders had the opportunity to acclimatise to the local conditions while featuring in some practice matches here over the last few days, the Daren Ganga-led side would be wary of the threat from their English opponents, who edged out Deccan Chargers in their Group A opener in Hyderabad on Saturday.

The 4 pm starter at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium will be eagerly watched by Chargers too as a victory for Somerset would make the equation less complicated for the IPL champions as the winner of the final group clash - between Chargers and Trinidad and Tobago- will march into the quarterfinal stage.

Gunning for a second consecutive victory, the English county side has the privilege of having experienced Marcus Trescothick and captain Justin Langer at the top of the batting order. And on the bowling front, they have a battery of pacers who have got enough exposure on the domestic front.

With a handful of internationals including a couple of regular West Indian faces like Dwayne Bravo in their ranks, Trinidad and Tobago too have the wherewithal to handle pressure-cooker situations. Batting certainly will the key for both the sides and the track that was used for the CL opener between RCB and Cape Cobras had the ball coming nicely on to the bat, though it assisted the seamers early on.

The key man in Trinidad and Tobago's scheme of things is Dwayne Bravo, the star all-rounder with valuable international and IPL experience behind him.

Bravo Senior will lead the bowling attack, the apparent weak link in Trinidad's armoury even as skipper Ganga insists that he has a trump card in the spin department - Dave Mohammad.

Although Somerset skipper Langer did not avail the services of a specialist spinner - Max Muller - in the eleven against Chargers but an all-out pace attack looks unlikely against Trindad and Tobago.

Team from:

Trinidad & Tobago: Sunil Narine, Sherwin Ganga, Samuel Badree, Rayad Emrit, Ravi Rampaul, Navin Stewart, Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (WK), Dave Mohammed, Darren Bravo, Daren Ganga (C), Adrian Barath, William Perkins

Somerset: Wes Durston, Peter Trego, Omari Banks, Max Waller, Mark Turner, Marcus Trescothick, Justin Langer (C), Jos Buttler, James Hildreth, Craig Kieswetter (WK), Charl Willoughby, Ben Phillips, Arul Suppiah, Alfonso Thomas, Zander de Bruyn

Match fact
Monday October 12, 2009
Start time: 16:00 local, 10:30 GMT