by HAYDN GILL in Antigua

ONE OF the astute thinkers among players in Caribbean cricket is singing the benefits of the Stanford 20/20 tournament, but he has one major concern.

Daren Ganga, captain of the Trinidad and Tobago team that squared off with Barbados in the semi-finals last night, is not in agreement with the placement of the tournament in the middle of the Carib Beer first-class series.

When the four-day competition resumes next weekend, Ganga anticipates there will be challenges in making the switch from the extra shorter form of the sport to the more traditional game.

"For me, it is going to be tough. It's going to be tough for all the players, all the young players," he said.

"Fast bowlers who are accustomed to bowling a four-over spell would have to find themselves bowling three six- or seven-over spells. Batsmen who are accustomed taking a lot of risks will now have to decide when and how to go about building a long innings.

". . . I'm curious to see what is going to happen with the first four-day game after this competition, to see how players adjust."

The Carib Beer Series started on January 4 and after three successive weekends of matches, the competition took a break to accommodate the second staging of the Stanford 20/20 tournament.

While Ganga conceded the timing was not ideal, he feels some good can come from it.

"We, as West Indian players, have been culprits of not being able to adjust to situations and to different formats of the game," he said.

"If you look in a positive way as a player, you might be able to benefit from it. That is the way that we should look at it as players and try to make sure that we are adaptable."

Challenge

The challenge for the players is compounded even more by the relatively long breaks in between matches of the Stanford tournament.

As an example, Barbados' second match came ten days after the first and the third followed a week after the second. Trinidad and Tobago's second match came 11 days after the first and there was a nine-day gap between the second and third.

"After being in a 20/20 set-up and having a week off, just coming to play one game and going back to your respective territories, . . . gets players a little bit lax; players have come off the burner in terms of four-day cricket," Ganga said.

"Teams that would have built any sort of momentum from the start of the season would probably have to start all over again. These are some of the things that will inhibit sides."

The Trinidad and Tobago captain, however, also spoke of some of the positives of the Stanford 20/20 tournament.

"This year has been more successful. I could definitely say that I can see a lot of improvement in all teams. The out-cricket and the ground fielding have been superb in comparison to 2006," he said.

"This is only going to go up. The mere fact that a lot of teams are becoming pro is going to make a lot of cricketers dedicate a lot more of their time to their game. You will definitely see an improvement for the better."