By Anthony Foster, Freelance WriterDEFENDING RED Stripe Bowl champions Barbados arrived in the island yesterday with their eyes set on retaining their title.
"All I can say, I think Barbados is the team to beat," Courtney Browne, the team's captain, told The Gleaner on their arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday.
GOOD CRICKET
He added: "The Jamaicans are coming out and expect us to play good cricket, and that's what we are here to do.
"We have a quality team, a good batting unit, a good bowling unit, so we have a very good all-round team.
"We are not worried about any one particular department," he stated.
Barbados won three of the four preliminary round matches, beating Guyana, Young West Indies and the University of the West Indies to finish winners of Zone B which was played in Antigua. Their only defeat came at the hands of hosts Antigua & Barbuda.
HOT AND COLD PATCHES
Pointing to earlier matches, Browne, a former Test wicketkeeper, said: "We have been playing in hot and cold patches, we haven't really hit the sort of peak we would like, but hopefully during finals we will."
They will play Zone A runners-up Trinidad and Tobago in the second semi-final at Kaiser, Discovery Bay, and for the battle against Brian Lara's men, Browne said:
"We will have to look at the Trinidad & Tobago set-up, and look back and see how they were playing, and then come up with a strategy, come out with plans and put them to practice."
BARBADOS SQUAD:- Courtney Browne (captain), Sherwin Campbell, Dale Richards, Kurt Wilkinson, Ryan Hinds, Floyd Reifer, Ryan Hurley, Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Smith, Vasbert Drakes, Sulieman Benn, Fidel Edwards, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins. Tony Howard (manager) and Henderson Springer (coach).
