THEY  came by the thousands last night to watch their national cricket team dubbed the ‘Red Force’, take on Guyana in the final match of the Trinidad leg of this year’s West Indies Cricket Board Caribbean T20 tournament at the Queen’s Park Oval, turning the venue into a Carnival like atmosphere, with their red outfits.
The Trinis were not disappointed, as their team defeated Guyana by 80 runs, thanks to Darren Bravo’s unbeaten 82 (51 balls, 8×4, 4×6) and Kieron Pollard’s pugnacious 44 (17b, 5×6, 1×4) which

took them to 191 for 4 the highest score in this year’s tournament, to which Guyana were limited to 111 for 6 in reply.
Guyana’s skipper Veerasammy Permaul called right on the night and playing an unchanged team that trounced Barbados in the previous matchup, asked his host to take first strike in front of a sold out and vociferous home crowd.
The sounds that erupted from the stands as the Trinidadians took to the field for a photo opportunity was deafening and can be compared to that of a premier league match in England, rising to a higher decibel as openers Lendl Simmons and William Perkins strode to the wicket to face the first delivery from Christopher Barnwell.
The two added 11 for the first wicket, before a diving Derwin Christian snapped up Simmons (03) down the legside off Barnwell in the third over of the contest, bringing Darren Bravo to the wicket, who watched as Perkins struck Barnwell through point for four off the final delivery of the over.
The younger Bravo struck both Steven Jacobs and Royston Crandon for four, before Perkins was bowled by Crandon, as he backed away to cut at a delivery that was too close to the body, leaving T&T on 26 for 2 after five overs, as Dwayne Bravo joined his brother Darren at the wicket.
Both Bravos struck Jacobs for boundaries in the sixth over, with Dwayne hitting him graciously through point for four, while Darren sent the dreadlocked off spinner into the top tier of the Jeffrey Stollmeyer stand for 6, pushing the score to 38 for 2 at the end of the power play.
A Mexican wave went through the crowd, when the home team raised their 50 from 7.3 overs, before Darren Bravo pulled Crandon over long on for the 79th six of this year’s tournament, taking his personal score to 37, while T&T moved to 65 for 2 after 9 overs.
The 2011 ICC Emerging Player of the Year Devendra Bishoo was introduced into the attack by Permaul and was audaciously driven past cover for four by Dwayne Bravo, who later holed out to Jacobs at long on off Deonarine for a run a ball 19 that included two fours.
The stage was set for the hard hitting Pollard to enter the fray, but Denesh Ramdin entered in his place and after hitting Deonarine over long off for six, got a top edge to short fine leg off Barnwell, where Deonarine took the catch easily.
At 127 for 4 in the 16th over, Pollard took the field to another standing ovation and watched as Darren Bravo whose 50 took him 34 balls and was decorated with five fours and three sixes, hit Barnwell back over his head for his fourth six, before he hit Deonarine into the Joey Carew Members Balcony for six, followed by a four and six over long on off Bishoo, T&T 170 for 4.
Jacobs was entrusted to bowl the final over by Permaul and was struck for a hat trick of sixes off the final three deliveries by Pollard, as T&T reached 191 for 4, against Barnwell’s 2 for 29, the best bowling figures by the Guyanese, as the pair added 64 for the fifth wicket from 4.3 overs.
Asked to score at close to 10 runs an over to get the 192 for victory, Trevon Griffith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul erased 07 of those runs, with the latter easing Sunil Narine through point for his team’s first boundary in the second over of their innings, before Griffith was caught by Perkins running back from mid on off the first delivery of the third over.
Derwin Christian was promoted to the number three position and after surviving a close run out chance, with the ball going into the boundary for four extra runs, watched as Chanderpaul graciously and nonchalantly eased Narine, Gabriel and Samuel Badree for boundaries between point and cover point.
Christian was caught and bowled by Rayad Emrit for 9 (1×4) off the leading edge as he looked to turn a delivery to the onside, while Ramnaresh Sarwan was bowled by the same bowler for 02, leaving Guyana on 53 for 3 at the halfway stage of their reply.
Deonarine joined Chanderpaul who reached his first half century in this year’s tournament, off 47 deliveries, after flicking Kevon Cooper to fine leg for his eighth four, as Guyana inched to 86 for 3 from 14 overs, still in need of 106 to win from 6 overs.
T&T removed Chanderpaul in the next over, caught by Cooper at point off  Narine for 53 (50 balls, 8×4), followed by Barnwell (01) and Deonarine (14), leaving Guyana on 88 for 6 in the 16th over and as Jonathan Foo made his way to the wicket, the question was how much runs would be the margin of victory for the ‘Red Force’.
A consolation four from Crandon through point off Dwayne Bravo, followed by Foo’s back to back boundaries off Emrit in the bowler’s final over, took Guyana, whose 100 was realized in the penultimate over, to their eventual total, with both batsmen finishing on 10 each.

Scorecard
T&T innings
L. Simmons c wkpr +Christian b Barnwell 03
W. Perkins b Crandon 08
DM. Bravo not out 82
DJ. Bravo c Jacobs b Deonarine 19
*+D. Ramdin c Deonarine b Barnwell 20
K. Pollard not out 44
Extras (w10, lb04, nb1) 15
Total (for 4 wickets off 20 overs) 191
Did not bat: K Cooper, RR Emrit, SP Narine, S Badree, ST Gabriel
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-26, 3-74, 4-127
Bowling: Barnwell 4-0-29-2 (w4, nb1), Jacobs 4-0-40-0, Crandon 2-0-19-1, Permaul 2-0-25-0 (w1), Deonarine 4-0-41-1 (w3), Bishoo 4-0-33-0 (w2)

GUYANA innings
T. Griffith c Perkins b Gabriel 00
S. Chanderpaul c Cooper b Narine 53
+D. Christian c&b Emrit 09
R. Sarwan b Emrit 02
N. Deonarine run out (Cooper) 14
C. Barnwell c *+Ramdin b Cooper 01
R. Crandon not out 10
J. Foo not out 10
Extras: (w5, lb5) 10
Total (for 6 wickets off 20 overs) 111
Did not bat: S. Jacobs, *V. Permaul, D. Bishoo
Fall of wickets: 1-07, 2-43, 3-53, 4-87, 5-88, 6-88
Bowling: Gabriel 3-0-17-1 (w3), Narine 4-0-12-1, Emrit 4-0-19-2 (w1), Badree 2-0-18-0, DJ Bravo 4-0-28-0 (w1), Cooper 3-1-12-1.