Red Force destroys ‘Students’ in CT20

T&T’s Red Force will not be letting up tonight as they face the Leewards in another important Caribbean T20 match from 8 pm. A confident win over the Combined Campuses and Colleges on Tuesday night which followed a washout in their opener against Jamaica put the local team on a path to topping the group.

However, they will have to win every match from now on to make sure they finish atop the standings and go straight to the finals.

From the moment Dwayne Bravo requested the deejay at the Queen’s Park Oval to play Bunji's Differentology on Tuesday night, the Red Force ruled the town. With their 3,000 red clad fans urging them on, the boys from T&T looked sharp in the field, united in their ways, and ready to take on all opposition in this tournament. Feeling their wrath on Tuesday night was the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) which went under by seven wickets for its second loss in two games.

With the win, T&T has moved into second place in the standings on four points behind the unbeaten Barbados on six.

Scores: CCC 94/8 (20) vs T&T 98/3 (17.2).

Set a modest 95 runs for victory after their bowlers took control from very early, T&T was always on course. And despite losing Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo cheaply, they were always in control of the chase. 

After playing a sumptuous extra cover drive into the stands for six, Simmons departed in the same over for 12. Darren Bravo then fell to a wonderful catch by veteran Floyd Reifer for four, and the CCC was back in the game at 31/2.

However, an unusually subdued William Perkins was able to add 21 runs for the third wicket with Man of the Match Dwayne Bravo and this threw any thoughts of an upset by the CCC out the window. Perkins fell for 19 off 25 balls as he found timing the ball extremely difficult on a slow pitch. Most of his shots which should have gone through point ended up through covers as many times he played too early. He never looked himself and three consecutive balls summed up his night. He was caught off a no-ball with the first one, dropped off the next and then caught at slip off the third.

With the crowd chanting for Kieron Pollard, the T&T management decided against sending out the hurricane batsman and instead skipper Denesh Ramdin joined Bravo, and they watchfully took T&T over the mark in 17.2 overs. Bravo finished unbeaten on 36 off 42 balls with two sixes and Ramdin scored 18 not out off 27 balls with one four.

Earlier, the ‘Students’ were found wanting, as they clearly had not done their homework on the T&T attack. When questions were raised by the spinners Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine, everything seemed a mystery. Top-scorer Chadwick Walton with 19 tried to answer as best as he could but Narine sent him back to the drawing board. Even the elder among the group, Floyd Reifer, could not use his experience to bluff his way through, as the test provided by the locals proved too hard.

When the class of Narine and Badree was over, there was hardly a break, as Kevon Cooper 3/17 and Dwayne Bravo continued the lesson on the T20 brand which T&T has made its own in the region.

Today Combined Campuses & Colleges will meet Windward Islands in the early match while Guyana and leaders Barbados battle from 8 pm.

SCOREBOARD

TT vs CCC
CCC inns
C Walton b Narine    19
R Reifer c DJ Bravo b Ottley    15
K Corbin c Cooper b Badree    1
F Reifer c Badree b Cooper    14
R Wiggins b Cooper    11
J Holder c Badree b Cooper    7
D Davis c Ramdin b DJ Bravo    5
A Dewar c Ramdin b Narine    2
K McLean not out    8
K Williams not out    5
Extras b1, lb3, w2, nb1    7
Total for 8 wkts 20 overs    94
Fall of wkts: 21, 33, 40, 57, 70, 70, 78, 78.
Bowling: S Badree 4-0-18-1, S Gabriel 3-0-20-1, K Cooper 3-0-17-3, S Narine 4-0-14-2, K Ottley 2-0-13-1, D Bravo 4-0-8-1.
 
T&T inns
L Simmons c Walton b Holder    12
W Perkins c Corbin b Austin    19
D Bravo c F Reifer b McLean    4
DJ Bravo not out    36
D Ramdin not out    18
Extras lb3, w3, nb5    11
Total for 3 wkts (17.2 overs)    98
Fall of wkts: 14, 31, 52.
Bowling: K McLean 2-0-9-1, J Holder 3.2-0-19-1, D Davis 1-0-4-0, R Reifer 2-0-19-0, A Dewar 4-0-15-0, R Austin 4-0-20-1, K Williams 1-0-11-0.
Result: T&T won by 7 wkts.
Man of the match: Dwayne Bravo.
T&T 4pts, CCC 0.