Trinidad and Tobago Legions head coach Rayad Emrit is looking for an improved batting effort from his top-order when the table-toppers meet the second-placed Leeward Islands Thunder from 7 pm at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba on May 2 in the West Indies T20 Breakout League. After three consecutive wins in the inaugural competition, TT lead the six-team table with 24 points, with the Leewards (14 points) being TT's nearest challengers after winning their first two matches. In their tournament opener on April 25, the Legions whipped Barbados Pelicans by 64 runs. Batting first, TT made a competitive 165 for eight, with a 69-run stand between Jyd Goolie and allrounder Joshua James rescuing the team from a precarious position of 89 for six. In the second match against the Guyana Rainforest Rangers on April 26, the Legions got a 23-run victory after posting 173 for six. Goolie impressed again, adding 77 for the fifth wicket with captain Joshua Da Silva as the hosts recovered from an initial top-order slide which saw them on 63 for four at one stage. In the third game, the Legions got an easy six-wicket victory over Jamaica Titans after restricting the opposition to just 127 for eight. TT's highest opening partnership in the first three games is 19, while they have lost eight wickets in the power play across the three matches. "Winning three out of three matches is exactly the start we were looking for. One of our main focuses is the batting power play where we haven't got the starts we wanted in any of the three games," Emrit told Newsday, at the launch of the Republic Cup "Five For Fun" youth cricket programme at the National Cricket Centre, Balmain, Couva on May 1. Though playing in a shortened format, Emrit wants his top-order batsmen to give themselves enough time to get acclimatised to the pitch conditions before playing more freely. "It's something we're a little bit concerned (about). Our lower-order has been doing the majority of the work, but we have the ability with the guys at the top to do the work," the Legions coach said. Perhaps with his coach's instructions in his ear, aggressive top-order player Kamil Pooran largely curbed his instinctive play as he steered TT's chase against Jamaica with an innings of 45 from 38 balls. "I think they have a lot more time than they realise in the power play. We have had discussions and now it's just for guys to go out and execute. There's nothing wrong with our batting. It's just for the guys to go out and execute at the top of the innings...we have a lot of guys who can do the job. It's just for them to start firing. Thus far, TT have used 13 of the 14 players on their roster, with young seamer Abdul-Raheem Toppin being the only unused player to date. Emrit underscored the importance of developing the skills of his players, one of the key mantras of the tournament. "This tournament is also about giving guys the opportunity. We will at some point in time see all 14 guys participate in the tournament. That is of utmost importance to us. Apart from winning, we want to give these guys an opportunity to play as well," Emrit said. "I think if we continue doing the right things continuously, we will get better. We haven't played our best game as yet. Hopefully, we can do that in the games in the back end. I think we're in the business end of the tournament now and hopefully, we can get things right." The Legions may need to find their best form in their clash with the Leewards, though. In their first match, the Leewards restricted Jamaica to 123 for six before cruising to a six-wicket win. In their second game, the Leewards bowled out a powerful Barbados batting lineup for 127 before storming to an eight-wicket triumph. In the latter game, left-arm pacer Nathan Edward, who has represented Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League, grabbed figures of five for 27. "Yes, Leewards have been very good with their bowling attack. If we could see off their main bowlers and score off the not-so-recognised bowlers, that will be our plan as well. At the end of the day, our batsmen at the top haven't clicked as yet. And if they get going, we'd be in for a very good score." At the end of the round-robin phase of the tourney, the first-placed team will progress to the May 10 final, with the second- and third-placed teams engaging in a playoff to clinch a final spot. "(Leewards) have a very good team. I think most of the teams playing in the tournament are good teams, so we just need to cover our bases." Barbados will meet Jamaica in the first match of the BLCA double-header from 2 pm on May 2.