Red Force blows past Windwards

“If yuh wife beat yuh once, you will allow she to beat yuh again?” said one animated St Lucian, speaking of T&T's loss to the Windward Islands in the first match of the 2012 tournament in Antigua. 

Well, at the end of the 2013 clash he would have gotten his answer as T&T exacted revenge by beating the Windwards by eight wickets in match 15 of the regional T20 tournament in St. Lucia on Tuesday night.

Another spectator added: “I saw the team today at the Palm Haven Hotel and asked them if they have a plan for Trini and they say not as yet. You expect them to beat that Trinidad team boy, they too strong.”

T&T showed their bravado to the full extent on the night as the Bravo brothers Dwayne and Darren took them to a victory with unbeaten half-centuries. 

SCORES: Windwards 125/6 (20) vs T&T 126/2 (16.2).

With the win, T&T are all but assured of a place in the finals of the tournament on Sunday. They have 17 points from five matches and only Jamaica with 13 points can catch them. However, the Jamaicans have an almost impossible task of overhauling the defending champions on better net run rate even if T&T loses to Barbados in their final clash.

After setting a below par target on a good batting pitch, the Windwards bowlers came out fighting and held their own until the fifth over of the innings, reducing T&T to 14/2. The struggling William Perkins (1) and Lendl Simmons (6) were the early casualties.

The Bravo brothers then got together and after batting cautiously for the early part of their innings, they blossomed into wonderful stroke play to bring home the victory. In over number 14, Dwayne slammed two sixes and two fours off four balls from Shane Shillingford. 'Little B' followed suit and hammered Liam Sebastien way into the night, and now even the St Lucians at the ground were backing him.

The duo added an unbeaten 112 for the third wicket in 68 balls. Dwayne, the star of the match, remained 62 not out off 42 balls with five fours and four sixes, while Darren, the leading run scorer in the tournament, finished on 52 not out off 31 balls with four fours and three sixes.

Earlier, Windwards skipper Darren Sammy called correctly at the toss and decided to take first strike. To chants of 'lick, lick, lick' homeboy Johnson Charles whacked the first three balls he faced, collecting two each time. However his countrymen could have been a factor for his downfall because he decided to 'lick' everything and the fourth ball he faced he outside-edged a catch to third man. 

After his dismissal, T&T gradually took a grip on proceedings as leg-spinner Samuel Badree started to twirl his magic. Sebastien got the crowd with two hooked sixes off Bravo as he made 20 off 15 balls, but apart from him no one could score at more than a run a ball, hence the inadequate total. Keddy Lesporis top-scored with 31 off 33 balls and Sammy made an unbeaten 25 off 27 balls. Badree was the pick of the T&T bowlers with 2/15.

T&T was due to play its final game of the tournament last night against Barbados, weather permitting, but it would be a game of academic interest to the men from Soca land.

​

SCOREBOARD
TT vs Windwards
Windwards inns
J Charles c Narine b Gabriel    6
A Fletcher c Pollard b Badree    11
D Smith st Ramdin b Badree    19
K Lesporis run out    31 
L Sebastien run out    20
G Mathurin st Ramdin b Narine    3
D Sammy not out    25
L James not out    0
Extras b3, lb1, w6    20
Total 6 wkts (20ovs)    125
Fall of wkts: 6, 36, 37, 66, 76, 123.  
Bowling: S Badree 4-0-15-2, S Gabriel 4-0-34-1, D Bravo 4-0-32-0, S Narine 4-1-18-1, K Ottley 1-0-4-0, R Emrit 3-0-18-0.

TT inns
L Simmons c Fletcher b Sammy    6
W Perkins c Lesporis b Shillingford    1
D Bravo not out    52
DJ Bravo not out    62
Extars lb1, w4    5
Total 2 wkts (16.2ovs)    126
Fall of wkts: 8, 14. 
Bowling: G Mathurin 3-0-7-0, D Sammy 3-0-20-1, S Shillingford 3-0-26-1, D Johnson 2.2-0-19-0, L Sebastien 3-0-35-0, K Peters 2-0-18-0.
Result: T&T won by 8 wkts.
Star of match: Dwayne Bravo.
T&T 4 pts, Windwards 0.

 
POINTS STANDINGS (up to Tuesday)
TEAMS    M    W    L    NR    P    NRR
T&T    5    4    0    1    17    +2.897
Jamaica    5    3    1    1    13    -0.361
Barbados    4    2    2    0    8    +0.685
Windwards    4    2    2    0    8    +0.227
Guyana    4    2    2    0    8    -0.624
CCC    4    1    3    0    4    -0.647
Leewards    4    0    4    0    0    -2.302