PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago brushed aside a ragged Combined Campuses and Colleges team by seven wickets to register their first win and get their Caribbean Twenty20 campaign up and running here Tuesday night.
Medium pacer Kevon Cooper (3-17) and off-spinner Sunil Narine (2-14) paralysed the CCC innings to restrict them to an inadequate 94 for eight from their 20 overs.
T&T then overcame a few minor hiccups to reach their target with 15 balls to spare, with experienced West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo top-scoring with an unbeaten 36 in a Man-of-the-Match performance.
Following Sunday night’s washout against Jamaica, T&T now have five points and lie second behind leaders Barbados on eight points.
CCC, meanwhile, remained winless after two matches and lie bottom of the standings without a point.
The result at Queen’s Park Oval was never really in doubt but there was some nervousness in the Trinidadian camp when the first three wickets tumbled for 52 runs in the tenth over.
But Bravo steadied the innings in an unbroken 46-run stand with captain Denesh Ramdin who finished on 18.
The right-hander occupied the crease for 42 deliveries and struck two sixes while Ramdin faced 27 balls and hit a single boundary.
Seeking to put their stamp on the competition before their home crowd, T&T had an early setback losing out-of-form opener Lendl Simmons in the just the second over with the score on 14.
The right-hander had just cleared extra cover with an audacious stroke off seamer Jason Holder when he edged a defensive stroke behind two balls later.
Stylish left-hander Darren Bravo then lasted just seven balls before he pulled a short ball from pacer Kevin McClean and was brilliantly caught at short mid-wicket by Floyd Reifer, the fielder diving low to his left to take the catch inches from the turf.
Opener William Perkins lived a charmed life, twice surviving chances before perishing in the 10th over for 19.
He slapped a chest-high full toss back to spinner Akeen Dewar to be caught off a no-ball when 18 and then watched as McClean grassed his aerial stroke at mid-off off the next delivery.
His luck ran out when he was taken at slip off the first ball of the next over off off-spinner Ryan Austin.
Dwayne Bravo started quietly before launching Dewar for six over mid-wicket and repeated the stroke with the same result off Austin, as T&T coasted to victory.
He had earlier shone with the ball, sending down four overs for a mere eight runs as CCC found themselves suffocated by tight bowling.
Opener Chadwick Walton top scored with 19 from 23 balls to lead CCC’s batting effort again, combining in a 28-run stand for the first wicket with Raymon Reifer (15).
Cooper broke the stand in the sixth over when he had Raymon Reifer well taken by Dwayne Bravo at mid-wicket and captain Kyle Corbin followed in the next over for one, squirting leg-spinner Samuel Badree to point.
Walton was bamboozled and bowled by Narine in the eighth at 40 for three and there was no way back for CCC as wickets fell steadily and runs disappeared.
Scoreboard
CCC
+C Walton b Narine 19
R Reifer c DJ Bravo b Ottley 15
*K Corbin c Cooper b Badree 1
F Reifer c Badree b Cooper 14
R Wiggins b Cooper 11
J Holder c Badree b Cooper 7
A Dewar c wkp Ramdin b Narine 2
D Davis c wkp Ramdin b DJ Bravo 5
K McClean not out 8
K Williams not out 5
Extras (b1, lb3, w2, nb1) 7
TOTAL (8 wkts, 20 overs) 94
Did not bat: R Austin.
Fall of wickets: 1-28 (R Reifer, 5.1 overs), 2-33 (Corbin, 6.1), 3-40 (Walton, 8), 4-57 (Wiggins, 12.5), 5-70 (F Reifer, 15.5), 6-70 (Holder, 16), 7-78 (Dewar, 18), 8-78 (Davis, 18.3)
Bowling: Badree 4-0-18-1, Gabriel 3-0-20-0 (w1), Narine 4-0-14-2 (nb1), Ottley 2-0-13-1, DJ Bravo 4-0-8-1, Cooper 3-0-17-3 (w1)
T&T
L Simmons c wkp Walton b Holder 12
W Perkins c Corbin b Austin 19
D Bravo c F Reifer b McClean 4
DJ Bravo not out 36
*+D Ramdin not out 18
Extras (lb1, w3, nb5) 9
TOTAL (3 wkts; 17.2 overs) 98
Did not bat: K Pollard, K Ottley, S Narine, K Cooper, S Badree, S Gabriel.
Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Simmons, 1.4 overs), 2-31 (DM Bravo, 4.1), 3-52 (Perkins, 9.1)
Bowling: McClean 2-0-9-1, Holder 3.2-0-19-1 (w1, nb3), Davis 1-0-4-0, R Reifer 2-0-19-0, Dewar 4-0-15-0 (nb1), Austin 4-0-20-1, Williams 1-0-11-0 (w2, nb1)
Result: T&T won by seven wickets.
Points: T&T 4, CCC 0.
Man-of-the-Match: Dwayne Bravo.
Toss: T&T.
Umpires: Nigel Duguid, Leslie Reifer; TV – Peter Nero.
