Clinical T&T three-peat as kings of CT20

It was a virtual no-contest as champions Trinidad and Tobago battered Guyana by nine wickets at the Beausejour Stadium, St Lucia, on Sunday night, with 45 balls left, to remain Caribbean champions for the third consecutive year.

The Red Force, not only dominated the contest from the first ball, but remained the only unbeaten team in the two-week long tournment that started at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain. It was also the second time the Red Force was whipping the Guyanese, following an 80-run bashing in Port-of-Spain in the preliminary round of competition.

The Guyanese total of 116-6 from their 20 overs, was never going to be enough against the champions and it took the top three batsmen rookie Evin Lewis, and West Indians players Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard just 12.3 overs to send the hundreds who had travelled from T&T for the final into celebratory mode. 

Simmons and Lewis hammered the bowling to all parts of the ground, racing to 52 in just 5.2 overs, before Lewis (32) fell to a brilliant one-handed catch by Leon Johnson in slip off the bowling of Ronsford Beaton.

Beacon (1-11), was Guyana’s outstanding player on the night and Pollard and Simmons gave him due respect. But once his four overs were completed, it was plain sailing as none of the other bowlers troubled the pair.

Lewis’ 18-ball frenzy included four fours and two sixes, but by the time he was out, the Guyanese looked deflated, and Simmons and Pollard punished them.

With their 500 or so red-clad fans 

in a frenzy, the duo man-handled 

the Guyanese and when the end came Simmons was unbeaten on 52 and Pollard 25. 

Simmons' runs came from 37 balls and he struck four fours and three sixes, while Pollard's contribution used up 21 balls blasting three sixes and a four. The two added 63 runs from 43 balls and it was such child's play for the classy T&T outfit that Pollard refused a single just before 

the end because he wanted to end the game and tournament with a six—which he duly did.

Earlier, the first roar of the night went up when Ramdin called correctly at the toss, and asked Guyana to bat. It was an important moment with even Guyana captain Verasammy Permaul admitting later that his team would have prefered to chase. It has been their strength in getting to the final, overcoming a Chris Gayle 

assault and successfully chasing down Jamaica’s 183 one night earlier with eight balls to spare.

They never seemed capable of getting close to that total in the face of some superb T&T bowling, led by ‘Man of the Match’ Shannon Gabreil (2-16) and Rayad Emerit (2-18).

After Samuel Badree removed Derwain Christian (5) in the second over, Gabreil cut down Ramnaresh Sarwan (5) and Narsingh Deonarine (0) as the Mudlanders stumbled to 15-3. Trevon Griffith and the inform Chris Barnwell added 61 runs valuable runs for the fourth wicket but it came off 58 balls, and never scaled the heights of the previous night when they blasted 79 off 55 balls against Jamaica. 

Griffith lived a charmed life, 

dropped twice by Emrit, until his 

luck ran out through a magical piece of fielding by Pollard, who with one stump to aim at from mid-off hit the target. He made 29 from 32 balls with one four and a six.

Barnwell tried to lift the tempo but soon followed for 32 off 39 balls with one four and a six. Emrit, bowling beautifully back of a length, removed him and followed with Leon 

Johnson’s wicket.

Towards the end, Royston Crandon and Stephen Jacobs added 27 runs unbroken for the seventh wicket but the body language of the Guyanese players suggested that even they knew that their final total was never going to be enough to stop T&T from going to the Champion League qualifiers in October.

And so it proved!

Scoreboard

TT vs Guyana
Guyana Inns 
D Christian c Emrit b Badree    5
T Griffith run out    29
R Sarwan c Simmons b Gabriel    5
N Deonarine c wkp Ramdin b Gabriel    0
C Barnwell c DM Bravo b Emrit    32
L Johnson c Simmons b Emrit    1
R Crandon not out    16
S Jacobs not out    9
Extras: (lb4, w10, nb5)    19
TOTAL: (6 wkts, 20 overs)    116
Did not bat:     V Permaul, D Bishoo, R Beaton.
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Christian, 1.4 overs), 2-14 (Sarwan, 4.1), 3-15 (Deonarine, 4.3), 4-76 (Griffith, 14.1), 5-88 (Barnwell, 16.1), 6-89 (Johnson, 16.3)
Bowling: Gabriel 4-0-16-2, Badree 4-0-21-1, Narine 4-0-26-0, DJ Bravo 4-0-31-0, Emrit 4-0-18-2.

T&T inns
L Simmons not out    52
E Lewis c Johnson b Beaton    32
K Pollard not out    25
Extras: (b4, lb1, w5, nb1)    11
TOTAL: (1 wkt, 12.3 overs)    120
Did not bat: DJ Bravo, D Ramdin, DM Bravo, J Mohammed, R Emrit, S Narine, S Badree, S Gabriel.
Fall of wickets: 1-52 (Lewis, 5.2 overs)
Bowling: Jacobs 3-0-35-0 (w1), Barnwell 1-0-10-0 (w1), Beaton 4-0-11-1 (w1, nb1), Bishoo 2-0-30-0 (w1), Deonarine 1.3-0-16-0, Permaul 1-0-13-0.
Result: T&T won by nine wickets.
Series: T&T win Caribbean Twenty20 final.
Man-of-the-Match: Shannon Gabriel.
Man-of-the-Series: Darren Bravo.
Toss: T&T.