NORTH SOUND, Antigua, CMC – Spinners Shane Shillingford and Garey Mathurin shared five wickets to lead Windward Islands to a stunning 11-run victory over reigning champions Trinidad & Tobago in the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament yesterday.
Off-spinner Shillingford grabbed three wickets for 21 runs from four overs and left-arm spinner Mathurin bowled impressively to snare two for 11 from four overs, as T&T failed to chase 130 for victory in the opening match of the tournament at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
Dwayne Bravo struck four sixes in the top score of 51 from 42 balls to lead the way for T&T before he was dismissed in the final over trying to go for the glory.
West Indies captain Darren Sammy had brought some respectability to the Windwards’ total of 129 for four from their allocation of 20 overs, stroking two fours and two sixes in a late charge of 41 not out from 31 balls.
T&T’s chase started slowly and they were set back in the second over, when Mathurin bowled West Indies opener Adrian Barath for one.
Darren Bravo joined West Indies teammate Lendl Simmons and they got T&T moving with some enterprising batting.
Simmons got into the thick of things with a four over mid-wicket off Nelon Pascal and the younger Bravo jumped off with a six over long-on off the same bowler.
Sammy made the breakthrough in the seventh over, when the younger Bravo was caught in the deep for 15, sparking a mid-innings wobble for T&T.
Windwards removed the cream of T&T’s batting, leaving them 72 for five in the 13th over, and the reigning champions never fully recovered.
Shillingford transformed the complexion of the match, when he had Simmons caught in the deep for 32, cleverly bowled the big-hitting Kieron Pollard for six before off-spin all-rounder Liam Sebastien had T&T captain Denesh Ramdin caught at short third man for four.
The elder Bravo kept the scoreboard ticking, but T&T continued to bleed wickets and they needed 26 from the final over.
The elder Bravo brought the crowd to its feet with two towering sixes off left-arm medium-fast bowler Kenroy Peters and was caught at deep mid-off trying to hit a third.
Earlier, Windwards lost their way after a solid opening stand of 54 between Johnson Charles and Miles Bascombe.
Charles made 32, but he was trapped lbw to leg-spinner Samuel Badree in the eighth over and this triggered a collapse, sending Windwards tumbling to 73 for four in the 13th over.
Sammy came to the crease and revived their chances, putting on 56 – unbroken – for the fifth wicket to beef up his side’s total.
Badree was the pick of the T&T bowlers with two for 17 from four overs.
The victory earned Windwards four points and T&T none with both teams set for action tomorrow, the third day of the competition, when the winners face Canada, and the losers meet Leeward Islands at the same venue.
SCOREBOARD
WINDWARD ISLANDS (maximum 20 overs)
J. Charles lbw b Badree 32
M. Bascombe c Narine b Badree 13
+A. Fletcher run out 4
D.S. Smith run out 8
K. Lesporis not out 17
*D. Sammy not out 41
Extras (lb7, w7) 14
TOTAL (4 wkts, 20 overs) 129
L. Sebastien, G. Mathurin, S. Shillingford, K. Peters, N. Pascal did not bat
Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-59, 3-61, 4-73
Bowling: Rampaul 4-0-25-0, Badree 4-1-17-2, D.J. Bravo 3-0-25-0, Narine 4-1-35-0, Simmons 2-0-6-0, Mohammed 1-0-5-0, Cooper 2-0-9-0
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO (target: 130 off 20 overs)
L. Simmons c Bascombe b Shillingford 32
A. Barath lbw b Mathurin 1
D.M. Bravo c Pascal b *Sammy 15
D.J. Bravo c *Sammy b Peters 51
K. Pollard b Shillingford 6
*+D. Ramdin c Smith b Sebastien 4
K. Cooper c Bascombe b Shillingford 3
R. Rampaul lbw b Mathurin 0
S. Narine run out 1
J. Mohammed not out 1
S. Badree not out 0
Extras (lb2, w2) 4
TOTAL (9 wkts, 20 overs) 118
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-30, 3-59, 4-65, 5-72, 6-94, 7-100, 8-108, 9-117
Bowling: Peters 4-0-26-1, Mathurin 4-1-11-2, Pascal 1-0-16-0, *Sammy 3-0-15-1, Sebastien 4-0-27-1, Shillingford 4-0-21-3
Result: Windwards won by 11 runs
Points: Windwards 4, T&T 0
Toss: Windwards
Man-of-the-Match: D. Sammy (Windwards)
Umpires: G. Brathwaite, C. Mack
TV umpire: N. Duguid
Matchreferee: A. Griffith
Reserve umpire: B. Joseph