ST JOHN’S – Co-hosts Trinidad & Tobago Red Force are expected to face a typically stiff challenge, when they open their defence of an expanded NAGICO Super50 Tournament against Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, the capital of their two-island republic.
The West Indies Cricket Board announced yesterday the schedule for the tournament which opens on January 7 in Trinidad and St Kitts. It will again be contested among eight teams, comprising the six territorial franchises, as well as the Marooners and an ICC Americas composite side.
In the other first round matches, Barbados Pride meet ICC Americas, Guyana Jaguars, last season’s beaten finalists tackle Windward Islands Volcanoes, and Leeward Islands Hurricanes host Jamaica Scorpions.
The preliminary competition will be played under a non-elimination format with the eight teams equally divided into two groups. Each side is carded to play six matches apiece during the preliminary rounds, with each playing the others in their group twice.
The top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals at Queen’s Park Oval, where the group winners play the runners-up from the opposite group in a one-off match for a place in the Grand Final on January 24, at the same venue.
This equals a total of 27 matches for the biggest, senior regional domestic 50 overs-a-side tournament ever staged by the WICB.
Group “A”, which will be played in Trinidad, comprises Red Force, Marooners, Pride and ICC Americas, a pre-selected group of the best players in the Western Hemisphere outside of the WICB territories plus eight players that advanced from a player combine held in September in the American city of Indianapolis.
Group “B”, which will be played in St Kitts, consists of the Jaguars, as well as the Scorpions, Volcanoes and Hurricanes.
Earlier this year, a purposeful hundred from Jason Mohammed and Sunil Narine’s guile combined to catapult the Red Force to the title over the Jaguars with a comprehensive 135-run victory in a lopsided Grand Final before a sea of masquerading red-clad fans at Queen’s Park Oval.
Match Schedule
GROUP A: Played in Trinidad & Tobago – Red Force, CCC Marooners, Pride, ICC Americas
GROUP B: Played in St Kitts – Jaguars, Scorpions, Volcanoes, Hurricanes
Thursday, January 7
Red Force vs Marooners – Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad (1:30 p.m.)
Pride vs Americas – National Cricket Centre, Trinidad (9 a.m.)
Jaguars vs Volcanoes – Conaree, St Kitts (9 a.m.)
Hurricanes vs Scorpions – Warner Park, St Kitts (1:30 p.m.)
Saturday, January 9
Marooners vs Americas – Shaw Park, Tobago (9 a.m.)
Red Force vs Pride – Queen’s Park Oval (1:30 p.m.)
Hurricanes vs Jaguars – Warner Park, St Kitts (1:30 p.m.)
Volcanoes vs Scorpions – Conaree, St Kitts (9 a.m.)
Monday, January 11
Red Force vs Americas – Shaw Park, Tobago (9 a.m.)
Pride vs Marooners – Queen’s Park Oval (1:30 p.m.)
Hurricanes vs Volcanoes – Warner Park, St Kitts (1:30 p.m.)
Jaguars vs Scorpions – Conaree, St Kitts (9 a.m.)
Wednesday, January 13
Red Force vs Marooners – National Cricket Centre, Trinidad (9 a.m.)
Pride vs Americas – Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad (1:30 p.m.)
Jaguars vs Volcanoes – Warner Park, St Kitts (1:30 p.m.)
Hurricanes vs Scorpions – Conaree, St Kitts (9 a.m.)
Friday, January 15
Pride vs Marooners – UWI SPEC, Trinidad (9 a.m.)
Red Force vs Americas – Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad (1:30 p.m.)
Hurricanes vs Jaguars – Conaree, St Kitts (9 a.m.)
Volcanoes vs Scorpions – Warner Park, St Kitts (1:30 p.m.)
Sunday, January 17
Marooners vs Americas – UWI SPEC, Trinidad (9 a.m.)
Red Force vs Pride – Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad (1:30 p.m.)
Hurricanes vs Volcanoes – Conaree, St Kitts (9 p.m.)
Scorpions vs Jaguars – Warner Park, St Kitts (1:30 p.m.)
Wednesday, January 20
Semi-final #1
Winner Zone A vs Runner-up Zone B – Queen’s Park Oval (1:30 p.m.)
Friday, January 22
Semi-final #2
Winner Zone B vs Runner-up Zone A – Queen’s Park Oval (1:30 p.m.)
Saturday, January 23
Grand Final
Winner Semi-final #1 vs Winner Semi-final #2 – Queen’s Park Oval (1:30 p.m.)
Sunday, January 24
Reserve Day
