The six captains in Singapore this week for Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 5 (WCL Div. 5) are all confident of promotion and feeling well prepared for the hot and humid conditions that the country has to offer.

Singapore captain Saad Khan was joined by Argentina’s Esteban MacDermott, Bahrain’s Yaser Sadeq, Cayman Islands’ captain Abali Hoilett, Guernsey captain Stuart Le Prevost and Malaysia’s Suresh Navaratnam at a press conference today looking ahead to the tournament that begins tomorrow (18 February).

Hosts Singapore will take on Cayman Islands first: “We’re looking forward to the tournament getting under way. We’ve not played Argentina or Cayman Islands before but we have played all the other teams in the event. We know the Cayman Islands play good cricket but so can we so we’ll be prepared for the game,” said the leader during the pre-match press conference today.

Meanwhile, Cayman Islands’ Hoilett is happy with the conditions and the side’s preparation saying: “The conditions here are similar to Cayman and we’re feeling good ahead of the event now it’s about playing cricket. We’ve been working really hard and now all we want to do is get down to playing cricket.”

Guernsey’s Le Prevost admitted the temperatures were high but the team’s pre-match preparation in the United Arab Emirates had been a key part of the team’s preparation ahead of the tournament: “To have had two matches and training in Dubai before coming to Singapore has definitely helped us, especially as we’re coming off the winter season in Guernsey.

“We’re looking forward to playing in Singapore again, the conditions and pitches are good and hopefully we can finish with a positive result and promotion once again.”

Fellow WCL Div. 6 qualifiers Malaysia only travelled the short distance by bus to neighbouring Singapore and the team have been preparing with a number of matches and camps. “We played Bahrain in a couple of warm-up fixtures in Malaysia before we travelled and prior to their arrival our new coach, Roy Dias, took us to his native Sri Lanka for a training camp which was great preparation.

“We’re looking forward to facing Argentina first up and hopefully if we get off to a winning start we can maintain the momentum throughout the event,” admitted the Malaysia captain.

Argentina feature in this division by virtue of relegation from Division 4 in 2010 alongside Cayman Islands and captain, Esteban MacDermott admitted the travel to get to Singapore had been tough but the conditions were not dissimilar to Buenos Aires where the side play their cricket. “We have travelled a long distance to get here but the team are acclimatising well to the conditions here.

“We’re all finding the temperature pretty good and the humidity is not dissimilar to Argentina so it’s not been so much of an issue for us with regards to getting used to conditions, it’s now about getting down to playing good solid cricket.”

Bahrain’s leader Yaser was happy with the conditions and looked forward to his side’s opening fixture against Guernsey, a side they last played in 2009 in Pepsi ICC WCL Div. 6.

“We’ve come off winter in Bahrain and a winter that was unusually cold for once! We’ve had some warm-ups against Malaysia before we got here to Singapore and we’re happy with our preparation. The side has evolved since 2010 in Nepal and definitely since 2009 when we last faced Guernsey.”

 (Photo by ICC/Ian Jacobs)