ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Captain Daren Ganga scrambled two runs to long on off the last ball of the game as Trinidad and Tobago held their nerve to beat a determined Canada by five wickets in a frenetic finish to their Group B clash in the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship on Saturday night.
Chasing Canada’s rather modest 128 for five at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, T&T were pegged back by combination of intelligent bowling and injudicious shot selection, and were left requiring 10 from the last over to win the contest.
Ganga could only get a full toss from medium pacer Rizwan Cheema as far as square leg for a single off the first ball but Kevon Cooper changed the equation when he banged the next delivery through cover for four.
Singles off the next three deliveries left Trinidad and Tobago needing two runs off the last ball and Ganga secured the couple they needed to earn his side’s second win and put them on top of Group B with eight points.
Ganga finished unbeaten on 27 from 31 balls while Man-of-the-Match opener Lendl Simmons top scored with 31 from 29 balls.
It was a dramatic finish to a game which seemed headed for a straight forward result after Zubin Surkari (42) and Ruvindu Gunasekera (39) spurred Canada to a hardly imposing total, after opting to bat first.
And the result seemed all the more uncomplicated when Simmons and Adrian Barath gave T&T a convincing start, adding 31 from 21 balls in yet another entertaining stand.
Simmons hit three fours and a six while Barath scored 17 from 15 balls with two fours and a six, before being bowled by 20-year-old left-arm spinner Parth Desai in the fourth over. The usually fluent Darren Bravo found himself strangled by stingy Canada bowling and his 21-ball struggle over eight ended in the 10th over when he picked out Desai at deep cover, off medium pacer Harvir Baidwan.
Simmons kept T&T going, belting a four and a six over midwicket off slow bowler Jimmy Hansra and seemed poised to lead his side to safety.
However, the right-hander holed out in the deep at long off trying to clear the boundary with leg-spinner Balaji Rao (2-24) at 75 for three in the 13th, and his dismissal sparked a slide that saw T&T lose two further wickets cheaply.
Denesh Ramdin showed none of his international experience as he skied an ugly shot to be caught at point for eight and Jason Mohammed followed soon after when he was run out for 13 to leave T&T on 110 for five in the 18th over. It was then left to Ganga’s leadership to steer T&T home as Canada made life difficult. Earlier, a second wicket partnership of 66 from 60 balls between Surkari and Gunasekera steered Canada away from danger, after opener Hiral Patel (7) was lbw to pacer Ravi Rampaul at 13 for one in the fourth over.
Sukari stroked four fours off 49 balls while Gunasekera faced 40 balls and struck three fours.
Scoreboard
CANADA
H Patel lbw b Badree 7
R Gunasekera b Mohammed 39
Z Surkari c Badree b S Ganga 42
Rizwan Cheema run out 12
*+A Bagai c Rampaul b S Ganga 6
J Hansra not out 1
T Gordon not out 8
Extras (b3, lb7, w2, nb1) 13
TOTAL (5 wkts, 20 overs) 128
Did not bat: Balaji Rao, H Baidwan, Khurram Chohan, P Desai.
Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Patel, 3.2 overs), 2-79 (Gunasekera, 13.2), 3-96 (Rizwan Cheema, 15.1), 4-119 (Surkari, 19.1), 5-119 (Bagai, 19.2)
Bowling: Rampaul 3-0-19-0, Badree 4-0-20-1, S Ganga 4-0-26-2, Cooper 4-0-24-0, Khan 2-0-14-0, Mohammed 3-0-15-1.
T&T
A Barath b Desai 17
L Simmons c Khurram Chohan b Balaji Rao 31
D Bravo c Desai b Baidwan 8
*D Ganga not out 27
+D Ramdin c Surkari b Balaji Rao 8
J Mohammed run out 13
K Cooper not out 12
Extras (b1, lb4, w8) 13
TOTAL (5 wkts, 20 overs) 129
Did not bat: S Ganga, R Rampaul, S Badree, I Khan.
Fall of wickets: 1-31 (Barath, 3.3 overs), 2-59 (Bravo, 9.3), 3-75 (Simmons, 12.4), 4-86 (Ramdin, 14.5), 5-110 (Mohammed, 17.5)
Bowling: Khurram Chohan 3-0-19-0, Desai 3-0-24-1, Hansra 4-0-29-0, Baidwan 4-1-12-1, Rizwan Cheema 3-0-16-0, Balaji Rao 3-0-24-2.
Result: T&T won by five wickets.
Points: T&T 4, Canada 0
Toss: Canada.
Man-of-the-Match: Lendl Simmons.
Umpires: Goaland Greaves, Norman Malcolm; TV – Nigel Duguid.
