Queen's Park opened the TKR/CPL T&T Cricket Board T20 Festival with a convincing 84 runs over Merryboys at the Queen's Park Oval, Port-of-Spain on Friday evening.
Merryboys captain Mario Belcon won the toss and invited Khary Pierre to bat.
Isaiah Rajah and Jordan Warner put on a healthy 50-run partnership that set up a huge and intimidating total.
The partnership came to an end in the sixth over when Warner was caught for 25.
West Indies wicketkeeper Joshua Da Silva scored a steady 27 from just 22 balls in a 48-run partnership with Rajah.
West Indies leg spinner Yannic Cariah then joined his captain and they shared a 93-run partnership before Rajah was caught by Andrew Rambaran on the boundary for 87.
Rajah faced 45 balls and hit nine fours and four sixes in his knock.
Cariah went on to score 48 from 26 and along with Red Force batsman Jyd Goolier who scored 40 from just 14 balls in just 17 minutes, Queen’s Park went on to score 245 for 4 in their 20 overs.
A target of 246 was always an intimidating total that would put the scoreboard pressure on Merryboys.
They lost Marion Belcon for three. Leonardo Julian sparkled briefly but he was brilliantly caught by Khary Pierre for 24 when the score was 71 for 4.
Vishnu Boys skipper and all-rounder Andrew Rambaran scored a top score of 55 from 31 with six fours and three sixes while Philton Williams contributed 26.
While their contributions were helpful, it was nowhere close to the target as the team ended on 161 for 9.
Queen's Park captain Khary Pierre said he was happy to get a win over their rivals.
“It's always good to get one over them, they have won many encounters in the past and you know our win is our win and we're happy to get it.”
Pierre was also in praise of the pitch as they scored 245.
“Very good, it's a very good pitch, a very good cricket wicket, good for batting, you have to bowl in good areas also, so you know you must hit your shots early. So all in all, kudos to the ground staff, I think they are preparing a good T20 wicket.”
Man of the Match Rajah who captained the team during the League, was also in praise of the pitch after his match-winning 87.
“I think that the wicket is a good one and we knew that as a team.” Rajah continued “For us as a batting unit, it was obviously setting a good foundation, maximising the power play was our target there. And then taking it from there, we had depth in our batting and for me personally, just backing myself. I think it was important for me to use the wicket, it was good, use the power play and then carry about the innings in a more stable way for the rest of the team.”
Summerise Scores
Queens Park 245 /4(20 overs) (Isaiah Rajah 87; Yannic Cariah 48; Jyd Goolie 40*; Namir Suepaul 3-32) vs Merryboys 161 /9 (20 overs) (Andrew Rambaran 55; Khary Pierre 3-15). Queens Park won by 84 runs.
Saturday's matches:
Victoria Vs Preysal 3pm
Clarke Road Vs Powergen 7pm
Both matches are at the Queen's Park Oval.
