Jacques Kallis join Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel

Castries (St. Lucia), June 17 (IANS) Former South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis will join Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel here on Thursday ahead of their opening match of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on Sunday against Zouks, manager Colin Borde has confirmed.

Borde said the inclusion of other internationals, the likes of Cameron Delport and Johan Botha also from South Africa and Pakistan's Kamran Akmal will add strength to Red Steel, reports CMC.

"We have gotten more experienced players in. With the inclusion of Kallis, Akmal, Delport and Botha we have now strengthened in terms of flexibility in terms of the batting orders and certainly in terms of support for the captain in terms of experience and versatility," Borde said on Tuesday.

Red Steel has already started preparations for the third instalment of the CPL which runs from June 20 to July 26. Borde, who has been with Red Steel since the inaugural CPL, believes the T&T-based franchise has the right formula for success this season.

"We have four spinners in young Derone Davis, Botha, Samuel Badree and Sulieman Benn and we also have Jason Mohammed if needed. So we have some flexibility in terms of the batting order, the bowling options and we have experience so we have the right formula for success," he said.

The Red Steel Manager is also predicting that this season will be the most competitive since the start of the CPL. He says after two seasons, teams have done their homework and have strengthened their outfits.

"The coaches have understood that playing in the Caribbean presents a different style of cricket and all of the teams have done their homework. Two seasons have gone and the teams have gotten smarter in terms of the way they play the game and this year is going to be very competitive," Borde explained.

The CPL bowls off on Saturday with defending champions the Barbados Tridents taking on last year’s runners-up Guyana Amazon Warriors.