Batsman Jason Mohammed made a strong claim for a place on T&T's South Africa-bound squad for the Champions League Twenty20 when he clouted an unbeaten 38 runs off 14 balls in the home team's seven-wicket win over the Daren Ganga All Star XI. This was during the Twenty20 for 50 Cricket Festival at the Queen's Park Oval yesterday. T&T chased a Duckworth/Lewis-revised target of 90 from 10 overs in the rain-shortened game and got home with two balls to spare thanks to Mohammed's brutal innings, which included two fours and three sixes. Opener William Perkins set the tone for the chase when he slogged offspinner Sulieman Benn into the crowd over long on off the third ball of the innings but chipped a leading edge to Devon Smith at gully the next ball.
Fellow opener Evin Lewis also played aggressively, cutting medium pacer Justin Kemp to the boundary in the second over and then straight driving spinner Ryan Hinds for six in the third. On the other end, Adrian Barath kept the scoreboard ticking along as well with a slogged six off a Mervyn Dillon free hit in the fourth. Going for another big hit, he picked out Kemp on the long off boundary off spinner Khary Pierre to depart for 18 off 12 balls. Lewis followed in the next over, edging Hinds to Smith after charging down the wicket. He made a run-a-ball 16. Perched at 46 for three with another 46 needed off 26 balls, the match hung in the balance for T&T as Mohammed joined captain Denesh Ramdin in the middle. The Regional Super 50 Man-of-the-Series wasted no time getting settled and promptly hit sixes off Hinds and Kemp in consecutive overs, bringing the equation down to 20 off the 12 balls. He later played Benn over the covers to the boundary in the penultimate over, which went for 10.
With three nervous runs off the first two balls of the last over, T&T needed another seven from four as pacer Meryn Dillon charged in from the pavilion end. The fired up Mohammed brought the crowd to its feet once more by slapping a full toss over the long on boundary to (technically) even the scores. He then sealed the match with another boundary placed in the same area.
Sent into bat earlier in the day, the Ganga XI posted 79 for two in 10 overs with opener Devon Smith racing to an unbeaten 43 off 26 balls. After lightly patting Sherwin Ganga's first two balls of the innings, he drove the third overhead for six, just as he had done in Nikita Miller's opening over the day before. His partner Loots Bosamn (7) did not last long, shelling out to Kevon Cooper at deep square leg off Rayad Emrit in the third over.
Smith continued to attack, flicking, pulling and cutting Emrit for three boundaries in the fifth over, which went for 17. Number three Lincoln Roberts spent 12 balls getting to eight before using his feet to Sherwin Ganga and being bowled playing across the line. The elder Ganga joined Smith at the crease at 48 for two but sudden rain interrupted play a short while later and the players were forced off the field at 54 for two off 7.4 overs. Upon the resumption, with the match having been reduced to 10 overs per team, Ganga (17 no off 11) and Smith added another 25 in the remaining time to set a competitive total.
SCORECARD:
Daren Gang All Star XI
D Smith not out 43
L Bosman c Cooper b Emrit 6
L Roberts b S Ganga 8
D Ganga not out 17
Extras (lb1, w4) 5
Total (10 overs; 2 wickets) 79
FOW: 16-1 (Bosman, 1.5 ov), 48-2 (Roberts, 6.4 ov)
Bowling: S Ganga 2-0-11-1, Badree 3-0-17-0, Emrit 2-0-22-2, Cooper 2-0-17-0, Stewart 1-0-11-0.
T&T Innings
W Perkins c Smith b Benn 7
E Lewis c Smith b Hinds 16
A Barath c Kemp b Lewis 18
D Ramdin not out 9
J Mohammed not out 38
Extras (nb1, w3) 4
Total (9.4 overs; 3 wickets) 93
FOW: 8-1 (Perkins, 0.4), 44-2 (Barath, 4.4 ov), 46-3 (Lewis, 5.2 ov)
Bowling: Benn 2-0-21-1, Kemp 2-0-17-0, Hinds 2-0-15-1, Dillon 1.4-0-26-0, Pierre 2-0-14-1
Result: T&T won by seven wickets
Man-of-the-Match: Jason Mohammed
