(In Barbados with the kind compliments of Carib Beer, Giftland, GT&T’s Emagine, 4R, May’s Shopping Centre and Bakewell)
LED by a robust 41 from the stylish left-handed Daren Bravo who was later voted the star of the match, Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) defeated England’s Hampshire Royals by 3 runs to take the second annual West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) Regional Twenty20 tournament at the Kensington Oval Sunday night.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first, T&T who are the West Indies representatives at this year’s Airtel Champions League in India, lost Adrian Barath (2) in the first over of the day, caught by James Vince at long on off Danny Briggs (2-9) before ending on 147-7, to which Hampshire were held to 111-8 off their 20 overs. Star of the Tournament Lendl Simmons who made 31 (2×4; 1×6) was joined by Bravo who took the attack to Hampshire Royals, by hitting Simon Jones over cover for four, followed by a four and six off successive balls from Hamza Riazuddin, as they added 77 for the second wicket from 8.4 overs.
Bravo continued to fight back for T&T with back-to-back fours off Riazuddin that pushed his personal score to 39 and his team to 63-1 after eight overs, with Simmons, who was a perfect foil, on 15 that included a sweetly timed four through midwicket off Johannes Myburgh.
A short delivery from Myburgh was dispatched to the midwicket fence by Simmons, who brought the crowd to life with a six in the same area off the next delivery and after nine overs, T&T who chalked up their 50 in seven overs, were 77-1 with Bravo on 41 and Simmons 28.
Hampshire saw the back of Bravo, who holed out to Sean Ervine at long off when he looked to hit Briggs, who was brought back at the Media Centre ground, out the ground, but he had done the damage with his ‘Operation Recovery’ with Simmons.
Bravo’s 41 took him 28 deliveries to accumulate and he struck five fours and two sixes and he was quickly followed by Simmons, who also holed out to Vince in the same position off Benjamin Howell, leaving T&T on 84-3 in the 12th over, with Runako Morton joining Jason Mohammed (13; 1×4) who was on 2.
Mohammed took over the boundary-hitting precedent set by Bravo, when he struck Riazuddin to the midwicket fence for four, before he was bowled by Wood after posting the 100 in the 15th over, followed by Morton (11) who offered Vince his 11th catch of the tournament at long on off Riazuddin.
Discarded West Indies wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin was joined by Sherwin Ganga (2) and he struck Riazuddin’s final delivery over midwicket for six, before Sherwin Ganga hit a skier to Liam Dawson at midwicket off Howell.
From the comfortable position of 79-1 in the ninth over, T&T slipped to 120-6 in the 18th over, before Ramdin struck three fours off Wood that created a Carnival atmosphere among 6 000 fans gathered at the venue and at the same time, pushed the score to 137-6 in the penultimate over.
They finished on 146-7, losing Ramdin who made a quick-fire 33 (3×4; 1×6) via run-out off the final ball of their innings, leaving Kevon Cooper unbeaten on 4, against the bowling of Briggs and Howell who took two wickets each for 9 and 14 runs respectively.
Hampshire started badly, losing the pugnacious Myburgh who was bowled by Samuel Badree without scoring, after Ravi Rampaul bowled the first maiden over of the match, much t the delight of the fans and his teammates.
Vince 23 (2×4) replaced Myburgh and responded to the crisis with a four through point off Rampaul who was later struck for a six off the outside edge and over third man by Jimmy Adams. That took Hampshire to 14-1 after three overs.
Sunil Narine replaced Rampaul at the Worrell, Weekes and Walcott End and was immediately struck for four by Vince through extra cover, before Adams was given a life by Barath at backward point off Badree who kept a tight rein on the English side.
Ramdin replaced Narine with Mohammed and the bowler struck with his first delivery, when he bowled Vince who scored his runs off 21 balls, leaving Hampshire on 38-2 at the start of their eighth over, with Adams on 14.
Barath made up for his blunder when he made a direct hit from short third man to run-out Adams after Ervine 16 (1×6), who struck Sherwin Ganga for a six over long on in the following over, had dabbed a ball from Mohammed to that position.
Mohammed removed Ervine, courtesy of a well-judged catch taken by Sherwin Ganga at deep backward square, while Barath redeemed himself further when he caught Dawson at short fine leg off Cooper, leaving Hampshire precariously placed on 66-5 after 13 overs.
A rare four by Howell off Narine did little or no justice to Hampshire’s cause as T&T’s adopted son Morton held a well-judged catch at long on, albeit on the second attempt to send back Christopher Wood, leaving Howell, Riazuddin, Bates, Jones and Briggs to score 71 off 29 balls.
Hampshire had some drama in the latter part of the innings, when Rampaul peppered Riazuddin with several short balls, including a free hit before he knocked off the batsman’s bail with one that flew through to Ramdin at terrific pace; Hampshire 92-7 in the 17th over.
Despite all that was occurring at the other end, Howell continued to show fight with a four through wide mid-on off Sherwin Ganga who bowled Jones with a low full toss two deliveries later. Needing to score 42 off the final over which was bowled by Cooper, T&T only gave them 6 to take the US$62 500 first prize.
In the battle for third place, Jamaica extracted revenge over the Windward Islands, defeating them by nine runs thanks to the batting of Danza Hyatt who top-scored with an unbeaten 43 made off 21 balls and decorated with three sixes and two fours in his team’s 153-7 made off their 20 overs, to take the US$10 000 prize.
Xavier Marshall 36 (4×6) and Shawn Findlay 25 (1×6) offered support to Hyatt, adding 57 for the first wicket from nine overs before Marshall was run-out, when Keron Cottoy got his fingers onto a Findlay straight drive.
Nelon Pascal continued to bowl with pace and aggression for the Windwards, picking up 3-21 from his four overs, but his team fared badly in reply and were restricted to 144-9 from their 20 overs , with Lyndon Lawrence top-scoring with 36 made off 27 balls with three fours.
Gary Mathurin 25 (2×4; 2×6) and Darren Sammy 17 (1×4, 1×6) offered support to Lawrence but the other batsmen struggled to keep up with the Reggae Boys bowling attack.
Dave Bernard Jr and Odean Browne took three wickets each for 25 and 34 runs respectively, while debutant left-arm fast bowler Sheldon Cotterell made a name for himself with his pace and swing as he picked up 2-17.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO  innings
A. Barath c Vince b Briggs    2
L. Simmons c Vince b Howell    31
D. Bravo c Ervine b Briggs    41
J. Mohammed b Wood    13
R. Morton c Vince b Riazuddin    11
D. Ramdin run-out (Ervine/Bates)    33
S. Ganga c Dawson b Howell    1
K. Cooper not out    4
Extras: (b-1, lb-3, w-7)    11
Total: (for 7 wickets, off 20 overs)    146
Fall of wickets: 1-02, 2-79, 3-84, 4-102, 5-112, 6-120, 7-146.
Bowling: Briggs 4-0-9-2, Jones 4-0-20-0 (w-4), Riazuddin 4-0-44-1 (w-1), Wood 3-0-35-1 (w-1), Myburgh 2-0-21-0, Howell 3-0-14-2.

HAMPSHIRE innings
J. Adams run-out    16
J. Myburgh b Badree    0
J. Vince b Mohammed    23
S. Ervine c S. Ganga b Mohammed    16
L. Dawson c Barath b Cooper    10
B. Howell not out    28
C. Wood c Morton b Cooper    2
H. Riazuddin b Rampaul    3
S. Jones b S. Ganga    2
M. Bates not out    5
Extras: (lb-4, w-2, nb-4)    10
Total: (for 8 wickets, off 20 overs)    111
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-38, 3-42, 4-59, 5-66, 6-75, 7-92, 8-99.
Bowling: Rampaul 4-0-25-1 (nb-2), Badree 4-0-15-1 (nb-1), Narine 3-0-24-0 (nb-1, w-1), Cooper 3.5-0-15-2 (w-1), Mohammed 2.1-0-6-2, S. Ganga 3-0-22-0.