Left-arm orthodox spinner Kavesh Kantasingh was too much to handle, as he grabbed 6/77 and 10 wickets in the match, to take T&T to a nine-wicket victory over the Leewards on the second day of their seventh round regional four-day clash at Warner Park. Scores: Leewards 81 and 158 versus T&T 172 and 68/1. A total of 31 wickets tumbled in two days and after the rubble was cleared T&T had bagged their 12 points to book their place firmly in the semifinal. They now sit and await the result of the Windward Islands versus Barbados clash, to find out where the semis will be played. T&T ended their campaign with 46 points but if Barbados defeat the Windwards, they will move ahead of them and they will host the semis. The other semi-finals will pit leaders Jamaica against Guyana in Jamaica.
Yesterday, T&T resumed on the overnight position of 172/9 and failed to add to their score, being all out for 172. This give them a lead of 91 runs on first innings after they bowled out the home team for just 81 on the opening day. Kantasingh was the star on day one with figures of 4/17 and yesterday he again put the Leewards in a spin taking 6/77 to end with match figures of 10/94. He was well supported by leg-spinner Imran Khan who snapped up 3/20. The Leewards batsmen to offer any resistance were Austin Richards 44, Garvin Tonge 33 and Devon Thomas 27, apart from them the others found the twirlers too much to handle. T&T then raced to their victory target of 68 in just 9.5 overs. After the early loss of debutant Evin Lewis for one, the Queen's Park duo of Justin Guillen and Marlon Barclay brought home the victory in quick time. The left-handed Guillen was imperious in his stroke play and struck an unbeaten 47, while Barclay who top-scored in the first innings got 20 not out.
Scoreboard
LEEWARDS 1st Innings 81
T&T 1st Innings
(overnight 172 for nine)
LEEWARDS 2nd Innings
K Powell c Khan b Gabriel 9
J Liburd lbw b Kantasingh 16
A Richards c J Mohammed b Kantasingh 44
G Williams c J Mohammed b Kantasingh 0
+D Thomas b Kantasingh 27
J Hamilton c Lewis b Khan 1
H Walsh Jr c and B Kantasingh 16
J Taylor c Emrit b Khan 3
G Tonge st G Mohammed b Kantasingh 33
L Baker c Emrit b Khan 0
A Martin not out 4
Extras (b3, nb2) 5
TOTAL (all out, 39.5 overs) 158
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-36, 3-36, 4-82, 5-97, 6-112, 7-115, 8-125, 9-126, 10-158.
Bowling: Gabriel 6-1-15-1, Emrit 4-0-18-0, Kantasingh 11.5-2-77-6, Kanhai 6-2-25-0, Khan 8-3-20-3.
T&T 2nd Innings (Target: 68)
J Guillen not out 47
E Lewis c Richards b Tonge 1
M Barclay not out 20
TOTAL (1 wkt, 9.5 overs) 68
Fall of wickets: 1-17.
Bowling: Tonge 3-1-21-1, Baker 2-0-10-0, Taylor 2-0-14-0, Martin 2-0-17-0, Walsh .5-0-6-0.
Result: T&T won by nine wickets.
Points: T&T 12, Leewards 0.
Man-of-the-Match: Kavesh Kantasingh.
Toss: Leewards.
Umpires: Luther Kelly, Vincent Bullen.
