PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad CMC – Captain Denesh Ramdin put in danger Barbados’ hopes of a semi-final berth when he stroked his maiden Regional Super50 century to lead Trinidad and Tobago to a convincing 41-run win and a clean sweep of their preliminary round matches here yesterday. Playing in the final round encounter at Queen’s Park Oval, the right-handed Ramdin smashed 134 and Jason Mohammed, 63, as T&T recovered from a shaky position of five runs for three wickets in the sixth over to reach 264 for eight off their allotted 50 overs.
Pacers Javon Searles (3-23) and Kyle Mayers (3-35) finished with three wickets apiece while left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn claimed two for 53.
In reply, Barbados were making a fist of it at 147 for four but after top scorer Jonathan Carter fell for 61, they lost their way to collapse to 223 all out off 49 overs.
Fast bowler Marlon Richards, who made early inroads, finished with three for 23 while leg-spinner Yannick Cariah (2-37) and pacers Shannon Gabriel (2-43) and Rayad Emrit (2-44) all picked up two wickets each.
The victory for T&T carried them to 25 points from their complement of six matches and they will now face the fourth placed team in the semi-finals in Barbados later this month.
Barbados, meanwhile, saw their chances of a final four spot placed in jeopardy with the defeat, after entering yesterday’s game in third spot on ten points. They were leapfrogged by Windward Islands who beat Leeward Islands by 36 runs in St John’s and a win for Guyana against Jamaica in the day/night affair in Georgetown, would give the Guyanese the last available semi-final spot.
Jamaica have already qualified for the semi-finals with 19 points from their five outings.
Asked to bowl first, Barbados were on top early when Mayers knocked over opener Adrian Barath and Kjorn Ottley without scoring, and Searles claimed Lendl Simmons for four.
However, Ramdin and Mohammed combined in a brilliant 170-run, fourth wicket stand to see T&T out of trouble.
Ramdin faced 135 balls, smashing 12 fours and four sixes while Mohammed raised his half-century off 83 balls with seven fours and a six before falling in the 37th over to Searles.
Ramdin produced a special knock, bringing up his half century off 54 balls with five fours and a six and needing only 29 deliveries to reach three figures. He posted a further 63 for the sixth wicket with Yannick Ottley (21) before finally holing to long off Benn in the 47th over.
Richards then shook up Barbados’ top order to reduce the visitors to 44 for three in the 12th over. He yorked Kraigg Brathwaite for six at 24 for one in the sixth over, also bowled captain Kirk Edwards for ten at 42 for two in the tenth over before breaching Rashidi Boucher’s defence for 21 in his next over.
Barbados regained their balance through two partnerships. Carter put on 49 for the fourth wicket with Kevin Stoute who made 16 before falling lbw to Cariah in the 27th over offering no stroke.
The left-handed Carter put on a further 54 for the fifth wicket with wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich (28) before eventually falling to a catch at third man off Gabriel, chasing quick runs in the 35th over.
Once Dowrich was lbw to Emrit in the next over at 158 for six, Barbados’ challenge lost momentum as the last five wickets fell for 65 runs.
Scoreboard
T&T
A Barath lbw Mayers 0
L Simmons lbw Searles 4
K Ottley c wkp Dowrich b Mayers 0
J Mohammed c Brathwaite b Searles 63
*+D Ramdin c Boucher b Benn 134
R Emrit c Brathwaite b Searles 0
Y Ottley c Edwards b Benn 21
S Ganga not out 11
M Richards c Boucher b Mayers 0
Y Cariah not out 0
Extras (b5, lb8, w15, nb3) 31
TOTAL (8 wkts, 50 overs) 264
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-5, 3-5, 4-175, 5-178, 6-241, 7-255, 8-257.
Did not bat: S Gabriel.
Bowling: Searles 10-3-23-3 (w1), Mayers 10-3-35-3 (w5, nb1), Stoute 4-0-31-0 (w1, nb1), Benn 10-0-53-2 (w2), Nurse 5-0-52-0, Williams 3-0-20-0 (w3), Carter 7-0-37-0 (w3).
BARBADOS
K Brathwaite b Richards 6
R Boucher b Richards 21
*K Edwards b Richards 10
J Carter c Emrit b Gabriel 61
K Stoute lbw b Cariah 16
+S Dowrich lbw b Emrit 28
K Williams c Barath b Cariah 5
K Mayers c K Ottley b Ganga 5
A Nurse not out 19
J Searles c K Ottley b Emrit 20
S Benn b Gabriel 9
Extras (lb7, w15, nb1) 23
TOTAL (all out, 50 overs) 223
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-42, 3-44, 4-93, 5-147, 6-158, 7-171, 8-175, 9-207, 10-223.
Bowling: Gabriel 10-0-43-2 (w6), Richards 7-2-24-3 (nb1), Emrit 10-1-44-2 (w4), Cariah 9-1-47-2, Simmons 3-0-22-0 (w4), Ganga 10-0-36-1 (w1).
Result: T&T won by 41 runs.
Points: T&T 4, Barbados 0.
Man-of-the-Match: Denesh Ramdin.
Toss: T&T.
Umpires: Z Bassarath, M Mukul (Bangladesh).
