The two-island republic emphatically beat old rivals Barbados by seven wickets on Sunday at theGuyana National Stadium to take the title. T&T now join Guyana in winning the prestigious title on nine occasions since its inception in 1976. They outplayed the Barbadians in all aspects of the game as they romped to 143 for three off 27 overs, replying to Barbados’ modest 142 all out off 45.5 overs.
Watched by a large crowd in hazy conditions, T&T were led by a composed, unbeaten 48 off 58 balls from their captain Daren Ganga. Lendl Simmons was not out with him on 26 when the victory was formalised. Ganga stroked five boundaries in his innings, and ensured T&T did not fail, after they were beaten by Jamaica in the Final last year at the Three Ws Oval in Barbados. He and Simmons shared a steady, unbroken 60-run, fourth-wicket stand, after began the chase rather timidly. Opener Williams Perkins, playing in his first match of the competition, was caught behind off Pedro Collins for one in the fourth over. But fellow opener Adrian Barath, who mixed solid defence with occasional aggression, and Ganga put their team on the road with a 34-run, second-wicket stand. The diminutive Barath made 31 before he gave a return catch to medium pacer Dwyane Smith. Darren Bravo was again impressivem and he demonstrated fluency with several drives before he was unnecessarily run out for 20 in a terrible mix-up with Ganga. But Simmons joined Ganga and they sealed the issue for T&T. Earlier, spin, the eternal bugbear of the Barbadians, returned to haunt them, as Samuel Badree and Sherwin Ganga shared five wickets to send the Barbados innings into terminal decline. Badree snared three wickets for 14 runs from his allotment of 10 overs to be the pick of the T&T bowlers and earn the Man-of-the-Match award. Sherwin Ganga supported well with two for 18 from 7.5 overs, but it was Rayad Emrit that put the shakes on the Barbadians after they chose to bat on another hard, docile Guyana National Stadium pitch. He took three for 36 from eight overs, after he snared the first two scalps before the two spin bowlers went to work on the Barbadian middle order. Jonathan Carter hit the top score of 36 and Dwayne Smith made 29 to add some respectability to the Barbados total. Emrit had opener Dale Richards caught behind for eight in the second over, and Ryan Hinds caught at square leg for a duck in the fourth over to leave the Barbadians 10 for two. Kevin Stoute joined his captain Jason Haynes and they got Barbados moving with a stand of 31 for the third wicket. Stoute got into stride with a couple of sweetly-timed off-side strokes for boundaries off Ravi Rampaul, but he was fortunate that stand-in ‘keeper William perkins dropped him on 13 off the same bowler in the 10th over. Badree ended the stand, when he had Stoute lbw for 14 in the 14th over, bringing Dwayne Smith to the crease. A metamorphosis has come over Smith’s batting throughout the competition. He has not lost any of his power, but he has become more selective with the balls that he chooses to murder. He and Haynes worked diligently at steadying the ship in the middle overs, but Badree and Ganga soon tied them down with their clever variations, and the pressure took toll. Smith was caught at backward square leg for 29 off Badree in the 22nd over, and opener Haynes’ misery came to an end, when he was caught at cover for 18 in the 23rd over. Carter featured in the second half of the Barbados innings, but he too, was guilty of gifting his wicket, when he caught at cover off the leading edge looking to swing Badree through square leg in the 44th over, as the Barbados lost their last four wickets for four runs.
SCOREBOARD
BARBADOS (50 overs maximum) D. Richards c wkpr Perkins b Emrit 8 *J. Haynes c Pollard b S. Ganga 18 R. Hinds c S. Ganga b Emrit 0 K. Stoute lbw b Badree 14 D.R. Smith c Pollard b Badree 29 K. Williams c S. Ganga b Pollard 5 J. Carter c Bravo b Badree 36 +P. Browne lbw b Emrit 16 T. Best run out (Badree) 1 P. Collins st Simmons b S. Ganga 1 C. Collymore not out 0 Extras (b3, lb4, w6, nb1) 14 TOTAL (all out – 45.5 overs) 142 Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-10, 3-41, 4-77, 5-77, 6-106, 7-138, 8-140, 9-142 Bowling: Rampaul 7-1-36-0, Emrit 8-1-36-3, Badree 10-3-14-3, S. Ganga 7.5-2-18-2, Jaggernauth 8-0-22-0, Pollard 5-1-9-1
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO (target: 143 runs off 50 overs) A. Barath c and b Smith 31 +W. Perkins c wkpr Browne b Collins 1 *D. Ganga not out 48 D. Bravo run out (D.R. Smith) 20 L. Simmons not out 26 Extras (b4, lb2, w8, nb3) 17 TOTAL (3 wkts – 27 overs) 143 S. Ganga, K. Pollard, R. Emrit, S. Badree, R. Rampaul, A. Jaggernauth did not bat Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-51, 3-83 Bowling: Collins 4-0-24-1, Collymore 4-1-10-0, Smith 5-0-33-1, Hinds 7-0-22-0, Best 3-0-24-0, Williams 4-0-24-0 Result: Trinidad & Tobago won by seven wickets Series: Trinidad & Tobago win WICB One-day Cup Toss: Barbados Umpires: G. Greaves, N. Malcolm, Reserve: C. Duncan Man-of-the-Match: Samuel Badree (Trinidad & Tobago) CMC rm/ar/08
