Trinidad and Tobago, the Windward and Leeward Islands, and the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) arrived yesterday high on expectations ahead of tomorrow's start of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President's Cup one-day tournament.

Describing their preparations as satisfactory, the quartet will bow into action either tomorrow or Friday at either Sabina Park, Kensington Park, or the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium.

"As defending back-to-back champions we come into the tournament with a lot of confidence," said Ganga.

"We did not do too well in the Caribbean Twenty20 and only made it to the semi-finals and the hope is that this time around we can get it right."

"Our aim is to be in the top two and make it to the semis," said Windward Islands captain, Darren Sammy.

"The first game will be a big hurdle against Jamaica but it's cricket and who play better on the day will win."

third hold on title

In tomorrow's clashes Trinidad, who will be aiming for a historic third-straight hold on the title, will open their campaign against the CCC at Kensington Park, while the Wind-wards, who last won the crown in the 2000/01 season, will take on hosts Jamaica at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium.

Both matches which are Group A fixtures are slated to start at 9 a.m.

The Leewards, in the meanwhile, will tackle Barbados at Sabina Park, and the WICB/Sagicor High Perfor-mance Centre go up against Guyana at Kensington Park, on Friday, in Group B play. In the meantime, preparations at the three venues have been going well according to the tournament's organisers.

"Everything will be in place for cricket on Thursday," said Kensington president, Dave Cameron, who is also vice-president of the WICB.

"We are putting all systems in place for the start of the tournament. We have been hosting first-class cricket for some years now so we are accustomed to staging cricket at this level. We have the framework in place, so everything will be ready."

hard at work

At Sabina Park and Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, workmen, cleaners, and members of the ground staff were hard at work.

"We are in the process of putting in the finishing touches at Sabina Park and Trelawny. We are confident everything will go well," said Jamaica Cricket Association CEO Robert Bryan.