Red Force blows away Leewards

A clinical performance by the T&T team has left the Leewards Islands badly bruised and in a desperate state after their regional T20 clash at the Queen’s Park Oval on Wednesday night.

The Red Force proved too good for the visitors and at the end of the night they were signalling to all the other teams that they are the ones to beat in this series, with a hefty 95-run win.

Scores: T&T 187/4 (20 overs) vs Leewards 92/8 (20)

Anyone looking at the scorecard at the end of the match would have seen the destruction that took place. With clinical precision a victory was achieved, as the Leewards, chasing a huge 182 runs for victory, could muster only 92/8 in reply.

Early in their reply, the game was as good as over as star batsman Kieran Powell was prised out at the first attempt by Badree. And before the pain could have subsided, he decided to do another extraction and had Tonito Willett gone as well with his last act of the first over. At the end of it, the Leewards were just four runs to the good with two men back in the dugout warming chairs.

Soon it was 77/6, and even the T&T fans were leaving the ground disappointed as their team had a no-contest on their hands. At the end, it proved to be a good workout for the local team’s bowlers and now they look ahead to their next game which comes up against Guyana on Saturday night at the Oval.

Earlier, Lendl Simmons made a welcome return to form to hit a thunderous 62, and Darren Bravo and Keiron Pollard put the finishing touches to a well put together innings by the local boys. With net run rate expected to play a big part in the latter stages of this tournament, the onus was on the local team to rattle up as much runs against the weak Leewards bowling line-up as they could have.

Simmons and Perkins got T&T off to a good start posting 45 in the sixth over, when Perkins fell for 19 made off 17 balls with two fours and a six. Simmons then found an able ally in Darren Bravo and they continued the free scoring. With the outfield heavy due to rain over the past few days, Simmons decided to take to the air and deposited five balls over the big white ropes at the Oval. His innings, which came off 46 balls, did not include a single four but he made amends by milking the field with excellent running.

At the fall of his wicket, 70 runs had been realised with Bravo, in only 52 balls. Enter the man everyone came to see and the beating continued. Keiron Pollard, back from Australia, continued the bashing, as he slammed the ball around the park. He clobbered 29 runs from just 12 balls and gave the innings that polished finish. Whilst there he took 35 runs from two overs with Bravo. Over number 16 went for 17 runs and over number 17 went for 18 runs, much to the delight of the local fans.

At the fall of his wicket, Bravo motored on and completed his half-century off 35 balls and despite losing half-brother Dwayne for three, he stayed to the end to ensure a healthy total. He finished the innings with a flourish, sending the last two balls bowled by Garvin Tonge into the stands. His 65 not out came off 40 balls and included one four and five sixes.

With the victory, T&T moved to nine points, one ahead of Barbados, with Jamaica in third on five and Guyana fourth on four points. The Bajans were scheduled to meet Guyana last night and victory for them would push them back to the top of the standings.

T&T will next play Guyana tomorrow.

Scoreboard

L Simmons c Hughes b Burton    62
W Perkins lbw Willett    19
D Bravo not out    65
K Pollard c Burton b Martin    29
DJ Bravo lbw Willett    3
K Cooper not out    5
Extras lb 1, w1, nb2    4
Total 4 wkts (20 overs)    187
Fall of wkts: 45, 115, 157, 167
Bowling: A Martin 4-0-27-1, G Tonge 4-0-58-0, T Willett 4-0-18-2, J Athanaze 2-0-18-0, S Burton 4-0-41-1, C Hughes 2-0-24-0  

Leewards Inns

K Powell c DJ Bravo b Badree    0
J Liburd c Ramdin b Gabriel    9
T Willett lbw Badree    4
C Hughes C Ramdin b Bravo    20
S Joseph c Ramdin b Pollard    16
D Thomas c Ramdin b Pollard    5
J Hamilton not out    14
S Burton lbw Ottley    0
J Athanaze lbw Ottley    3
G Tonge not out    7
Extras lb6, w8    14
Total for 8 wkts 20 ovs    92
Fall of wkts: 0, 4, 21, 44, 62, 65,66, 74 
Bowling: S Badree 4-0-13-2, S Gabriel 4-0-23-1, D Bravo 3-0-15-1, S Narine 4-1-11-0, K Ottley 3-0-18-2, K Pollard 2-0-6-2
Result: T&T won by 95 runs
T&T 4pts
Man of match: Lendl Simmons