VINODE MAMCHAN
vinode.mamchan@guardian.co.tt
The highly touted T&T Red Force batting line-up failed again on Sunday night but Nicolas Pooran was there to take them to a narrow two-wicket victory over Canada at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain.
With the president of Cricket West Indies (CWI) announcing on Saturday night that all players who play in the tournament are eligible for selection to the World Cup, the local team batsmen will have to pull up their socks if they want to address the selectors.
Presently the only player authorized to call Courtney Browne’s number is Nicolas Pooran as he thumped his third successive half-century (66) to lead his country to victory.
The senior players have collectively failed but with T&T Red Force still having seven games at the preliminary round to book a place in the semi-finals, if the team finishes in the top two in its group, then the batsmen would want to start getting runs under their belts.
Cameron said on Saturday night at the Hilton JFK, in the USA after being inducted into the US Hall of Fame that the players performing in this tournament will be the ones going to the World Cup. “We have the Super50 going on back home and let me say that those who perform in the tournament will be the ones going to represent us in England.”
On Sunday, set a relatively easy target of 208 runs to secure the win, the Red Force was handily placed at 161 for three in the 33rd over before tumbling to 192 for eight in the 39th. The fans at the Oval were at the edge of their seats over before a calm Rayad Emrit and Khary Pierre got them over the line.
Pooran followed up scores of 89 and 75 in the first two matches with 66 from 45 balls and Kyle Hope made 50 from 84 balls, as Red Force limped over the line with 56 balls remaining.
Pooran and Hope put on 104 for the fourth wicket to put Red Force on course for victory, but Sukhdeep Brar snatched 3-39 in six overs to transform the complexion of the match.
The Red Force top order again failed to produce as the young Canadians with nothing to lose just ran in and let loose. Lendl Simmons got just one, Evin Lewis made 25, skipper Denesh Ramdin got 13 and Keiron Pollard made three.
Earlier, several batsmen got starts without carrying on, as Canada reached 207 for seven from 50 overs, after they chose to bat.
David Jacobs led the way with 37, Navneet Dhaliwal and Bhavindu Adhihetty made 32 apiece, Harsh Thaker scored 25, Nikhil Dutta added 23 and Brar got 21 for the Canadians.
Emrit was the most successful Red Force bowler with 3-58 from 10 overs, Pierre collected 2-30 from 10 overs and Ravi Rampaul took 2-41 from 10 overs.
The Red Force is on a bye today but goes into action again on Thursday. Today’s games will see Guyana play the Canadians at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy and Windwards battle Windies B at the Oval.