Vin­ode Mam­chan

Step­ping on­to the pitch with his team at 110 for six chas­ing 148 runs for vic­to­ry, Yan­nick Ot­t­ley played a cameo knock to take T&T to a three-wick­et vic­to­ry over Bar­ba­dos in the first of a three-match se­ries at Kens­ing­ton Oval, Wednes­day night. Ot­t­ley and fel­low all­rounder Navin Stew­art scored 27 runs off 11 balls to take the score to 137 be­fore skip­per Rayad Em­rit stayed with Ot­t­ley to the end to for­malise the re­sult.

Chas­ing 148 runs, T&T made a bad start los­ing Adri­an Barath for a first ball duck. Justin Guillen fol­lowed for one, and at ten for two, the home team was look­ing good. How­ev­er the in form open­er William Perkins did not change his game and at­tacked any­thing off line or length and sprayed three six­es and three fours in a 24-ball 34, that got T&T back on track. Ja­son Mo­hammed played the an­chor role, and scored a run-a-ball 42 with four fours be­fore he left. His dis­missal at 110 left T&T in a spot of both­er be­cause while he was there he saw the ex­it of Daren Gan­ga (6) and Sher­win Gan­ga 21 off 14 balls with two six­es.

At the fall of Mo­hammed, Ot­t­ley took charge and he fin­ished un­beat­en on 20 off eight balls with three fours. Stew­art was al­so very ag­gres­sive in count­ing 17 off eight balls with a four and two six­es. Ear­li­er, medi­um pac­er Stew­art starred for T&T with the ball, as he fin­ished his four overs with 1/14. Ot­t­ley al­so bowled well and took 1/25 off his quo­ta. Big pac­er Shan­non Gabriel com­ing back from in­jury snared 2/30, as he re­duced the Ba­jans to five for two ear­ly in the piece. Kevin Stoute with an un­beat­en 40 off 42 balls with a four and six and Kyle May­ers 48 off 33 balls with five six­es re­vived the home team.

Man­ag­er of the team Omar Khan said Ot­t­ley con­tin­ued to be a good stu­dent of the game and again showed his calm­ness un­der pres­sure and was able to de­liv­er. "Ot­t­ley con­tin­ues to demon­strate that he is a think­ing crick­eter and was able to calm­ly take us to vic­to­ry from a po­si­tion of near de­feat." The sec­ond match was played at the same venue last night. T&T are us­ing these match­es to pre­pare for the up­com­ing Cham­pi­ons League in South Africa.

SCORE­CARD

Trinidad & To­ba­go vs BAR­BA­DOS

Bar­ba­dos inns

R Bouch­er c D Gan­ga b Ot­t­ley 29

M Nurse c S Gan­ga b Gabriel 0

K Ed­wards lbw b Gabriel 0

K Stoute not out 40

K May­ers c D Mo­hammed b Em­rit 48

R Reifer b Stew­art 17

S Ram­say not out 2

Ex­tras: (b5, lb4, w2) 11

TO­TAL: (5 wk­ts, 20 overs) 147

Fall of wick­ets: 1-5 (Nurse, 2.1 ov), 2-5 (Ed­wards, 2.4), 3-36 (Bouch­er, 6), 4-110 (May­ers, 15.1), 5-143 (Reifer).

Did not bat: +S Hope, J Hold­er, N Charles, J Jones.

Bowl­ing: Gabriel 4-0-30-2 (w1), Ot­t­ley 4-1-25-1, Stew­art 4-0-14-1, S. Gan­ga 4-0-33-0 (w1), Em­rit 4-0-36-1.

T&T inns

+W Perkins c wk Hope b May­ers 34

A Barath c Nurse b Ram­say 0

J Guillen c May­ers b Hold­er 1

J Mo­hammed c wk Hope b Stoute 42

D Gan­ga c Reifer b May­ers 6

S Gan­ga b Reifer 21

K Ot­t­ley not out 20

N Stew­art c Jones b Hold­er 17

R Em­rit not out 2

Ex­tras: (b1, w6, nb1) 8

TO­TAL: (7 wks, 19.2 overs) 151

Fall of wick­ets: 1-5 (Barath, 1.1 ov), 2-10 (Guillen, 2.2), 3-45 (Perkins, 6.5), 4-75 (D. Gan­ga, 6.5), 5-110 (S Gan­ga, 16), 6-110 (J. Mo­hammed, 16.1), 7-137 (Stew­art, 18).

Did not bat: S Gabriel, D Mo­hammed.

Bowl­ing: Hold­er 4-0-25-2 (w1), Ram­say 2-0-18-1, Charles 1-0-15-0 (w2), May­ers 4-0-19-2, Jones 4-0-26-0, Reifer 2.2-0-29-1 (w1), Stoute 2-0-18-1 (w2, nb1).

Re­sult: Trinidad & To­ba­go won by three wick­ets with four balls re­main­ing.