Butter-fingered Canadians slip to 9-wicket loss

Canada’s coach Gus Logie was considered one of the best fielders in world cricket during his time with the T&T and West Indies teams of the past and on Wednesday night he was left pulling out his hair, as his team put down no fewer than six catches in their nine-wicket loss to T&T at Guaracara Park in Pointe-a-Pierre.

In front of a sparse crowd, Canada showed their preference for the shorter form of the game, in compiling a competitive 142 for four off 20 overs. However, their outfielding did not back up this performance and T&T was able to comfortably get home at 143 for one off 16.1 overs. 

Leading the home boys to victory were left-handers Evin Lewis, 53 not out, and Kjorn Ottley, 61 not out. T&T had stumbled early on with the loss of Justin Guillen for 17 off 20 balls. The Queen’s Park batsman was quick out of the blocks as usual, thumping three fours before he was caught at the deep square leg boundary going for a maximum.

At the fall of his wicket, the aggressive Ottley made his way out to the middle and together with Lewis and Lady Luck, they were able to gather runs quickly. Ottley played with a free spirit and anything pitched up was dispatched into the night. 

Lewis, on the other hand, preferred the pull and dab behind point which brought him the majority of his runs. They brought up the 50 in just eight overs and then went into overdrive taking the score past the 100-run mark in an additional five overs. When the victory came, Ottley was unbeaten on 61 off 35 balls with seven fours and two sixes, while Lewis was not out on 53 off 42 balls with five fours and two sixes.

Earlier, Canada won the toss and decided to take first strike in overcast conditions. With the rain delaying the start by 45 minutes and still hanging around, their decision to wield the willow first was surprising.

However, they did not disappoint and gave a good account of themselves. Skipper Rizwan Cheema, opening the batting, led the way with a blistering 44 off 30 balls with four fours and two sixes. One of his sixes was particularly spectacular as he swept fast bowler Shannon Gabriel into the stands. Amarbir Hansra was also in fine form and blasted an unbeaten 40 off 42 balls with two fours and two sixes.

The pick of the bowlers for T&T were Yannick Ottley, 1/19 off four overs, and off-spinner Ansil Bhagan on his T&T debut with 1/21 off four overs.

Last night the teams were due to play their second T20 at the same venue, weather permitting.

SCOREBOARD
T&T vs Canada

Canada inns
Hiral Patel st wkpr N Pooran b Yannick Ottley    3
Rizwan Cheema lbw b Imran Khan    44
Ruvindu Gunasekera c K Ottley b Ansil Bhagan    20
Amarbir Hansra not out    40
Damodar Daesrath c sub Y Cariah b Imran Khan    23
Usman Limbada not out    3
Extras lb3, w6    9
Total for 4 wkts (20)    142
Fall of wkts: 7, 75, 75, 114.
Bowling: S Gabriel 4-0-31-0, Y Ottley 4-0-19-1, A Bhagan 4-1-21-1, R Emrit 4-0-37-0, I Khan 4-0-31-2.

T&T inns
Justin Guillenc U Limbada b Junaid Siddiqui    17
Evin Lewis not out    53
Kjorn Ottley not out    61
Extras b4, lb1, w6, nb1    12
Total for wkt (16.1)    143
Bowling: A Hansra 4-028-0, H Osinde 3-0-28-0, J Siddiqui 3.1-0-15-1, R Cheema 3-0-33-0, N Dutta 2-0-28-0, J Gordon 1-0-6-0.
Result: T&T won by 9 wkts.