PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Daren Ganga will be looking for a belated birthday gift when he leads Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) against holders Jamaica in a crucial second-round match of the WICB regional four-day competition, starting today at the Queen's Park Oval.

Ganga, T&T's most successful captain, celebrated his 30th birthday on Wednesday and will be looking to conclude the celebrations with a victory over the Jamaicans.

T&T were on the receiving end in last year's competition, when the Jamaicans claimed first innings points in a drawn match in the preliminary rounds, and then won the Challenge Final by nine wickets.

Early standings

With six points, T&T are currently third in the early standings after taking first innings points in their drawn away game against Barbados in the opening round.

The Jamaicans defeated the Leeward Islands by six wickets in their opener in St Kitts and picked up maximum 12 points to share the lead with the Windward Islands.

Jamaica have only won twice in the 19 matches they have contested in Trinidad, so the record is not entirely in their favour, and T&T are hoping to use home advantage to jump-start their season.

"Preparations have been good since our arrival," T&T coach Kelvin Williams said. "We are concentrating a little more on our fielding. We have looked at it as a critical area following the game against Barbados. [On Wednesday], we did a little batting and bowling to ensure the guys remained in shape.

"There is nothing to be disappointed about in our opening game. We just had one bad session on the final day between lunch and tea. We are addressing that problem (fielding), since it was a cause for concern."

Remain confident

Ganga said they were aware that Jamaica are a good team, and are also mindful that they had the better of them twice last year.

"We had a solid performance against Barbados, and our hallmark this season is to play good and quality cricket," he said. "All the guys are ready and prepared for the Jamaican challenge."

Junior Bennett, the Jamaica coach, said that once they play together as a team, they will be very competitive.

"We are confident," he said. "It is our second game of the tournament, and we are coming off a victory against the Leewards, which is a positive start for us.

"It is always a challenge playing against T&T, and this game is no exception. I believe that once we play together as a team and execute efficiently, we will be very competitive."

Squads

Trinidad and Tobago (from): Daren Ganga (captain), Atiba Alert, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Rayad Emrit, Sherwin Ganga, Justin Guillen, Amit Jaggernauth, Richard Kelly, Imran Khan, Dave Mohammed, Gibran Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Lendl Simmons.

Jamaica (from): Tamar Lambert (captain), Dave Bernard Jr, Odean Brown, Jason Dawes, Keith Hibbert, Wavell Hinds, Danza Hyatt, Donovan Pagon, Horace Miller, Brenton Parchment, Andrew Richardson, André Russell, Gavin Wallace.

Umpires: Khemraj Barrasingha, Goland Greaves.

Other matches

AT CAVE HILL: The Combined Campuses & Colleges and Guyana will have a point to prove in their second-round match of the WICB regional four-day competition, starting today at the Three Ws Oval.

The CCC, a collection of students from tertiary education institutions across the Caribbean, will want to make a strong start to the season, after they drew a bye in the first round.

A depleted Guyana side will want to rebound from a heavy defeat in their opening match, when they slumped to an innings and 147-run defeat to the Windward Islands at Queen's Park in Grenada.

IN ST GEORGE'S: Windward Islands' captain Rawl Lewis has welcomed the venue change that will see his side tackling ex-champions Barbados at the out-of-town Progressive Park in the WICB regional four-day tournament this weekend.

Local organisers announced Monday that the second-round fixture would be shifted from the National Stadium in the city area.

"The state of the pitch and everything is top class," said Lewis, who led the Wind-wards to a winning start to the season last weekend, beating Guyana inside four days at the National Stadium.

The Windwards enter the second round as joint leaders on maximum 12 points with Jamaica, after their huge innings and 147-run win over Guyana on Sunday.