ST AUGUSTINE, Trinidad (CMC) – An unbeaten 85 from Daren Ganga upstaged newcomer Carlos Brathwaite to lead Trinidad & Tobago to a two-wicket victory over Combined Campuses & Colleges in the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday. Ganga struck 11 fours and one six from 114 balls in close to 3½ hours of batting, as T&T, set 218 for victory, reached their target about 45 minutes before the lunch interval on the final day of their second round match at the UWI Sports & Physical Education Complex.
The T&T captain defied a devastating spell from Brathwaite to formalise the result with a square cut through backward point for the last of his boundaries to take T&T to 221 for eight at the finish.
Brathwaite, playing in his maiden first-class match, finished with seven wickets for 90 runs from 25.3 overs that put the early skids on the T&T chase.
The result meant that T&T collected 12 points and increased their tally for the season to 18, and CCC gained no points and remained on 12.
T&T host England Lions at Queen’s Park Oval in the T&T capital of Port of Spain in the third round, while the CCC travel to Antigua for a contest against Leeward Islands at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
Ganga drew on his enormous experience to dig his side out of the hole, which Brathwaite had helped them to dig the previous evening.
He completed a valuable sixth-wicket stand of 58 with Imran Khan to revive T&T’s chances, and continued to lead from the front with the tail-enders.
Brathwaite, however, threatened to spoil the Valentine’s Day celebration, when he had Khan caught at mid-on for 20.
Before T&T crossed the 200-run threshold, Brathwaite also had Rayad Emrit caught at mid-on for 11, and off-spinner Ryan Austin had Dave Mohammed caught at silly mid-off for 12.
Ganga, however, continued to stroke the ball crisply, and took control in the closing stages, with a sweetly-struck, lofted, straight six off Austin inching T&T within touching distance before he sealed the issue.