T&T Red Force were handily placed at 146 for just three wickets in 23 overs when Windwards Volcanoes' Baskar Yadram produced a brilliant spell of bowling which saw them lose their last seven wickets for addition of 31 runs to end on 179 all out in their Colonial Medical Insurance Cup clash at the Brian Lara Academy in Tarouba on Sunday.
In a match reduced to 29 overs a side, dapper left-hander Darren Bravo and Jason Mohammed racked half-centuries and they were at work there were visions of glory for the hometeam in terms of a final score.
But Yadram had other ideas. Mixing up his deliveries nicely, he was able to outfox many a T&T batsman and there was a regular procession to and from the pavilion.
Bravo looked sharp in collecting 58, his second half-century of the series to add to his century. Bravo, who started off beautifully, lost momentum during the back end of his knock. His 58 came off 60 balls with five fours and a six.
Mohammed meanwhile got to 60 off 53 balls with three sixes and six fours. The PowerGen player looked good and thrilled the small crowd with an array of wonderfully-timed strokes. He showed it all during his knock, finesse, brutal force and calculated rotation. Yadram finally sent him back and followed with the wicket of Odean Smith without scoring. He ended with admirable figures of four wickets for 22 runs.
Earlier, the Windwards won the toss and with bad weather around inserted the Red Force to bat. The players arrived at the venue at 11 am and had to mill around until 5.30 pm before the action got underway.
As play got underway, the fans at the venue soon rose to their feet as southpaw Jeremy Solozano drove beautifully through the offside for a boundary. Preoccupied with the fact that the game was now a 29-0ver affair, Solozano (5) was then needlessly run out and soon after Tion Webster (2) accompanied him when he drove Kaveem Hodge's delivery carelessly to mid-off.
However, Red Force fought back early on to reduce the Volcanoes to two wickets for 25 runs after Jon-Russ Jaggessar and Yannick Ottley removed openers Devon Smith (2) and Desron Maloney (0).
SCORES
T&T Red Force 179 all out (28.3) (Jason Mohammed 60, Darren Bravo 58, Baskar Yadram 4/22, Ray Jordan 2/53) v Windwards Volcanoes