PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – A solid team bowling performance, led by captain Imran Khan, and classy batting, anchored by experienced duo Darren Bravo and Jason Mohammed, guided Trinidad & Tobago Red Force to a six-wicket win over Guyana Jaguars, to secure their place in the semi-finals of the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup.
View tournament scorecards here:
https://www.windiescricket.com/results/
Proceedings commenced with the hosts winning the toss and putting the Jaguars into bat. Both sides made changes firstly with Guyana bringing into young all-rounder Ronaldo Ali Mohammed for Raymon Reifer, while Trinidad & Tobago recalled off spinner Jon-Russ Jaggesar for opener Jeremy Solozano.
After the rain delay which temporarily halted play from 1:48pm to 3:28pm was over, Jaggesar bowled Chandrapaul Hemraj (8) with a big spinning off break delivery, that hit the top off off-stump.
This was a sign of things to come as the Red Force spin triumvirate of captain Khan with his leg spin, Jagessar and left-arm spinner Yannic Ottley combined to restrict the Jaguars to 78 for five in the 25th over.
Guyana should have lost their sixth wicket soon after, but Ali Mohammed when on (4) was dropped at second slip off Khan’s bowling.
That missed opportunity enabled Ali Mohammed (27) to be a useful partner to Jonathan Foo whose unbeaten innings of 97 not out, stabilized the Jaguars innings
.
Foo and Ali Mohammed added 71 for the sixth wicket, then Veerasammy Permaul (22) further supported in a 50 run eight wicket stand, which aided the Guyanese in posting a respectable total.
Needing 220 to win, the Jaguars initially restricted the hosts to 51 for three. It should have been 55 for four, when Jason Mohammed then on (1), was dropped at cover by Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai via the bowling of off-spinner Ramall Lewis.
Similarly with the score 80 for three in the 21st over, Bravo on (25) was dropped by a jumping Barnwell at mid on, off Ali Mohammed, as he attempted a lofted drive.
These two missed opportunities came back to haunt the Jaguars cruelly, as the pair displayed their international experience, putting the Guyana bowlers to the sword.
Only the mild anti-climax finish where Bravo was out caught at long-on, as he tried to finish game with a boundary and get his century simultaneously, denied Red Force the perfect ending.
At Brian Lara Academy: Windwards Volcanoes ended their sojourn in the Colonial Medical insurance Super50 with a hard fought 11 run victory over the United States of America.
Kavem Hodge, the Windwards captain recapped the game and tournament performance to CWI Media.
“They USA pushed us very hard, they have a lot of experience guys that have played around the world, so it wasn’t a team we could take lightly”, said Hodge
“We saw them beat the West Indies emerging players, so our aim was not to make that mistake and we pushed ourselves to finish the tournament on a high note, in what was a really tough game.”
The Volcanoes had suffered two close defeats to Trinidad & Tobago Red Force by two and Guyana Jaguars 22 runs respectively.
Hodge noted the positives factor in those defeats was how team fought until the end, while acknowledging his pleasure of scoring his maiden List A century of 123 in the aforementioned encounter versus Guyana.
“It took a lot out of me to take over captaincy half way through the tournament. But it helped me to learn a lot about myself and I think it trickled down to my batting and I got a lot of help from the guys in incorporating the plans I had for the team.
“Getting my first list A hundred was a big moment for me. It was something I’ve planned, so just hoping to build on this.”
Source: CWI Media
