Left handed batsman Darren Bravo stroked an imperious 95 to lead T&T Red Force to a competitive score of 259 for nine in 50 overs, against Guyana in their Nagico Super50 clash at the Queen's Park Oval, yesterday.
Bravo shared in two partnerships to give backbone to the Red Force innings. Firstly, he added 85 with Kjorn Ottley (33) for the third wicket after T&T had openers Evin Lewis (20) and Kyle Hope (15) to off spinner Steven Jacobs with only 44 runs on the board.
Ottley faced 62 balls and struck three fours before being dismissed with the score at 129. Bravo was joined by Denesh Ramdin (43), and the two senior West Indies players, featured in a partnership of 90 runs for the fourth wicket to set up the Red Force total. Ramdin struck five fours in his 44-ball innings before trying to up the scoring rate, he was caught on the long on boundary to leave T&T 219 for four.
Bravo followed seven runs later in similar fashion, trying to clear the long on boundary. He faced 108 balls and struck four fours and five sixes, and once he was at the crease the Red Force looked assurred of a big score. However, his dismissal saw six wickets tumbling for the addition of 34 runs, as Red Force slipped from 219/3 to 253 for nine.
Earlier, Guyana won the toss and sent T&T in to bat. Lewis and Hope found the going tough but posted 39 for the first wicket of eight overs. Hope was first to go for 15 and he was followed by Lewis who scored 20 off 34 balls. Both men fell to the spin of Jacobs, who left the field with a side strain after taking 2/12 from six overs. Up to press time, Guyana was replying, needing 5.20 runs per over to claim a place in Saturday's finals.
SCOREBOARD
?E Lewis c Bramble b Jacobs 20
K Hope c Johnson b Jacobs 15
K Ottley c Johnson b Moti 33
D Bravo c Reifer b Permaul 95
D Ramdin c Wintz b Reifer 43
J Mohammed c Bramble b Wintz 3
N Deonarine c Johnson b Wintz 7
A Hosein c Reifer b Permaul 3
M Richards not out 16
R Emrit c Barnwell b Permaul 4
J Jaggessar not out 0
Extras (b1, lb4, w15) 20
Total (for 9 wkts - 50ovs) 259
Fall of wkts: 39, 44, 129, 219. 227, 236, 236, 242, 253. Bowling: P Wintz 10-0-67-2, S Jacobs 6-1-12-2, R Reifer 10-1-39-1, C Barnwell 6-0-27-0, V Permaul 10-0-56-3, L Johnson 3-0-19-0, G Moti 5-0-34-1.