Team Rivals go after fourth Premier Division Cricket title

When the Premier Division of the 2015 National Cricket Competition bowls off this weekend, defending champions Team Rivals are already entertaining visions of a fourth straight hold on the title.

And the man who has been at the helm for the three previous wins — Olanzo Jackson — is pumped at attaining not only the milestone for the team, but also personally.{{more}}

“We are looking forward to the two-day tournament, and winning the championship three years in a row and as captain, I am really looking forward to do it for a fourth year,” Jackson told SEARCHLIGHT last Sunday, soon after his team lifted the national twenty/20 title.

Jackson said that the twenty/20 competition provided his players with the necessary preparations and with most of them being part of a night cricket competition taking place at the South Rivers Playing Field, keeps the team readiness intact.

In listing the hallmark of Team Rivals, Jackson related, “One of the things about Team Rivals is that we play as a unit… We warm up as a team; we do have our differences, but once we step on to the park, we expect everyone to go out and do his job … We have a good bunch of guys and it is the camaraderie which is binding us together.”

A longstanding member of Team Rivals, Jackson, who turned 40 last year, however, hinted that his tenure as a cricketer at the Premier Division level is nearing its end.

Complaining of issues with his knees, the wily leg spinner confessed, “We are looking at a spinner …We have Asif (Hooper), who is currently in Barbados. As soon as he is confident enough to carry the bowler, then I will bow out, but for now I will stick around.”

Jackson, a former St Vincent and the Grenadines and Windwards player, has been one of the leading bowlers of the local cricket competition over the years.” (RT)