We have to stop Ricky Hoyte

We’re looking forward to playing Somerset in the Twenty20 semi-final on Saturday and hopefully be in the final on Sunday.

Somerset is a big team and we aren’t taking them lightly. They were a finalist two years ago when we won the trophy.

They are tough opposition who can score a lot of runs.

Ricky Hoyte is a big bat who is scoring a lot of runs for them. He was on the verge of playing for the West Indies. He is a good batsman who is in good form. He will be the key in shutting down their batting attack and limiting them to a low score.

Any one of the four teams — us, Somerset, St. George’s or Willow Cuts — could win it. We’re on even par with a slight nod to St. George’s and Somerset as maybe being the top two teams on form.

We have a few injuries, which will affect us. I’ve got stitches on my finger and O.J. Pitcher has a fractured hand.

There’s a lot of pride in that we’ve never lost a Twenty20 game.

If anything that gives us an advantage this weekend is that we’ve played in the the finals the last two years at the National Centre.

It’s a big, big ground and plays differently than a club ground.

The spinners come into play more there.

We have very good spinners on our team. I feel spin wins Twenty20 games, especially on a bigger field.

We have Tamauri Tucker, Delyone Borden, Del Hollis and Sammy Robinson gives us plenty of options. We can also throw some pace out there with Justin Pitcher and Stefan Kelly is back. OJ probably has the most wickets in Twenty20 so we have a lot of choices.

We’re going to have to win the game with our bowling.

Injuries

I don’t think we’re going to score big totals with the injuries that we have.

You can’t mishit at the National Centre. You have to work the ball for ones and twos more. We have the batsmen to do that.

We’re going to play our best 11. We’re not going to ignore the young guys that helped get us there and we’ll give some of them a run out, but Delyone was away with the national squad for some matches and Stefan was injured and those are guys who are automatic picks when they are available.

It’s never a question of ‘who we are going to play?’ We are always going to play the best 11 guys who are available.

There are a lot of senior players on St. George’s. They are grooming one or two youngsters but they also have guys like James Celestine, Dean Minors, Troy Hall and Ryan Steede. Even Oronde Bascome is like a senior player. With a senior team, they know how to get it done.

Willow Cuts are younger and more inexperienced.

On the day, either team could win, but if both are playing their best, I’d take St. George’s to be the team to beat.

Deunte Darrell is going to have to bat well for Willow Cuts. Ryan Shepherd and Chris Douglas gives them three big hitters. Veteran Dexter Basden will have to have a good game.

When we played Willow Cuts, their weakness was their bowling attack. They didn’t have anybody penetrating so they’ll have to put a good total on the board to have any chance against St. George’s.

If St. George’s score 150, that should be enough for them to win and advance to the final.

I like playing at the National Centre, but it doesn’t have the same energy as a club ground. People are too far away from the match.

The trade off is it is a proper sized field and the surface is magnificent.

My hope is that some day the final will be played at a club ground sooner rather than later.