Champions League Twenty20 runners up Trinidad and Tobago with the Bravo brothers to the fore, yesterday thrashed Jamaica by 90 runs at the Providence National Stadium in a President’s Cup limited overs first round encounter.
Like true brothers Dwayne and Darren shared the workload with Darren starring with the bat and Dwayne with the ball as the defending champions picked up a bonus point for dismissing the Jamaicans under 160.
The match was reduced to 44 overs-a-side due to late start and Jamaica upon winning the toss decided to send in their opponents who only arrived in the country late Tuesday night.
In what turned out to be a low-scoring encounter, Trinidad reached 201-9 off their allotted overs and then restricted the Jamaica side led by Carlton Baugh in the absence of regular skipper Chris Gayle to 111-9.
The Jamaican batting sorely missed the fire power of Gayle with Brendon Parchment’s 23 the top score and Danza Hyatt’s 16, the next best effort.
After 20 overs Jamaica had already lost six wickets for a mere 72 runs and Trinidad and Tobago continuously applied pressure in an effort to finish the match quickly.
They did!
Brendon Nash (12) and Andrew Richardson (14*) were the only other two Jamaican batsmen to reach double figures as medium pacer Dwayne Bravo and left arm spinner Dave Mohammed destroyed the top order to finish with three wickets each for 30 and 25 runs respectively.
They were supported by the miserly bowling hand of Samuel Badree who bowled nine overs for nine runs which included four maidens.
Earlier, T&T had the scoring board ticking over at just under six runs per over in the first 10 overs despite the loss of openers, Adrian Barath (18) and Lendl Simmons (11).
However, Darren Bravo and captain Daren Ganga added 36 runs for the third wicket before Ganga was caught by Daren Powell off a David Bernard Jr., delivery for 19.
Darren Bravo’s 43 came from 61 balls and was the backbone of T&T’s innings. He struck five fours and was dismissed seven runs short of his half century when he attempted an expansive drive and was bowled by Bernard Jr.,.
Keiron Pollard (17), Dinesh Ramdin (25), Samuel Badree (22) and Sherwin Ganga (18) all made important contributions in the middle and at the bottom of the order which pushed Trinidad past the 200-run mark.
Nikita Miller was the pick of the bowlers for Jamaican finishing with 2 – 28 from nine overs while Andrew Richardson and Powell grabbed one wicket each for 34 and 43 runs respectively.
Trinidad and Tobago will meet the Windwards Islands tomorrow at the Uitvlugt Ground, Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) face Jamaica at GCC ground, Guyana goes head to head with Barbados at the Albion ground and W.I U-19 challenges the Leeward Islands at the National Stadium.
