Everyone was eagerly looking forward to his return, and mystery spinner Sunil Narine did not disappoint, grabbing four wickets for 17 runs to lead T&T to victory over the Leeward Islands in their second match of the Nagico Regional Super50 cricket tournament at Shaw Park in Tobago, yesterday.
The victory got T&T's campaign back on track following the loss to Barbados on Sunday. T&T also earned a bonus point and now needs to defeat the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) in their final match on Sunday at the Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, to progress.
Scores: Leewards 140 all out vs T&T 144/5.
Narine spun webs around the Leewards batsmen and pacer Ravi Rampaul returned to form with 4/20, as the visitors were humbled for just 140 runs in front of some 1,500 ecstatic fans in Tobago.
Starved of cricket for the last eight years, the locals came out in their numbers and Dwayne Bravo's men did not let them down. Every move was greeted with cheer from the appreciative fans and Tobago stood still while the Red Force was recording their first win of the tournament.
The Leewards, however, caused some anxious moments as they removed opener Adrian Barath for a 'duck' and Evin Lewis for 11 before Lendl Simmons (25) and Darren Bravo (22) added 40 for the third wicket to get the team back on track. Just when they were pushing the Islanders out of the game, Justin Athanaze sent back the duo to reduce the Red Force to 74 for four.
At this point, the elder statesmen on the T&T team, Denesh Ramdin and skipper Bravo, came together to stabilise the innings and take their team to victory.
Bravo fell just before the result was formalised. He faced 37 balls and struck four fours and three sixes in his epic 42. Ramdin finished unbeaten on 22.
Earlier, the T&T bowlers held sway and put their team on top, as the Islanders continued their struggle for runs. The Leewards also lost their first match to CCC, and are effectively out of the tournament.
Leewards captain Keiran Powell won the toss and took first strike and must have regretted that decision as he was walking back to the pavilion with just eight runs to his name.
His dismissal led to a continuous procession to and from the pavilion, as the locals utilised the slow pitch to good effect. The Leewards lost four wickets for just 46 runs before their best partnership of the innings arrived. Wicketkeeper Devon Thomas and Jamar Hamilton added 67 runs for the fifth wicket, as they used forthright methods to counter the local attack. Thomas finally fell for 42 off 52 balls with two sixes. Hamilton stood around with the tail and was the final man out for 39 off 80 balls with two fours and a six.
Scoreboard
SCOREBOARD
LEEWARDS vs T&T
Leewards inns
K Powell c Emrit b Rampaul 8
M Hodge c Simmons b Rampaul 15
M Richards lbw Narine 10
S Joseph c Simmons b Emrit 4
D Thomas c Simmons b Y Ottley 42
J Hamilton lbw Narine 39
R Cornwall lbw Narine 14
J Athanaze c DJ Bravo b Narine 0
G Tonge c DM Bravo b Rampaul 4
A Martin b Rampaul 0
Q Boatswain not out 0
Extras 4w 4
Total all out(43.2ovs) 140
Fall of wkts: 20, 30, 35, 46, 113, 130, 130, 139, 140, 140.
Bowling: DJ Bravo 4�0�19�0, R Rampaul 9�0�20�4, R Emrit 7�0�19�1, S Narine 9.2�3�17�4, I Khan 5�0�24�0, L simmons 3�0�11�0, Y Ottley 6�0�30�1.
T&T inns
A Barath c Thomas b Tonge 0
E Lewis lbw Tonge 11
L Simmons c Richards b Athanaze 25
DM Bravo c Cornwall b Athanaze 22
DJ Bravo c Thomas b Tonge 42
D Ramdin not out 22
Y Ottley not out 5
Extras w15, lb2 17
Total 5 wkts 144
Fall of wkts: 0, 25, 65, 74, 139.
Bowling: G Tonge 8�2�38�3, Q Boatswain 6.1�1�35�0, A Martin 5�0�22�0, J Athanaze 6�1�30�2, R Cornwall 2�0�17�0.
Result: T&T won by 5 wkts.
T&T 5pts, Leewards 0.
MOM: Sunil Narine.