NORTH SOUND, Antigua CMC – Spinners Shane Shillingford and Garey Mathurin shared five wickets to lead Windward Islands to a stunning 11-run victory over reigning champions Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament yesterday. Off-spinner Shillingford grabbed three wickets for 21 runs from four overs and left-arm spinner Mathurin bowled impressively to snare two for 11 from four overs, as T&T failed to chase 130 for victory in the opening match of the tournament at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
Dwayne Bravo struck four sixes in the top score of 51 from 42 balls to lead the way for T&T before he was dismissed in the final over trying to go for the glory.
West Indies captain Darren Sammy had brought some respectability to the Windwards’ total of 129 for four from their allocation of 20 overs, stroking two fours and two sixes in a late charge of 41 not out from 31 balls.
T&T’s chase started slowly and they were set back in the second over, when Mathurin bowled West Indies opener Adrian Barath for one.
Darren Bravo joined West Indies teammate Lendl Simmons and they got T&T moving with some enterprising batting.
Simmons got into the thick of things with a four over mid-wicket off Nelon Pascal and the younger Bravo jumped off with a six over long-on off the same bowler, but Sammy made the breakthrough in the seventh over, when the younger Bravo was caught in the deep for 15, sparking a mid-innings wobble for T&T.
Windwards removed the cream of T&T’s batting, leaving them 72 for five in the 13th over, and the reigning champions never fully recovered.
Shillingford transformed the complexion of the match, when he had Simmons caught in the deep for 32, cleverly bowled the big-hitting Kieron Pollard for six before off-spin all-rounder Liam Sebastien had T&T captain Denesh Ramdin caught at short third man for four.
The elder Bravo kept the scoreboard ticking, but T&T continued to bleed wickets and they needed 26 from the final over.
The elder Bravo brought the crowd to its feet with two towering sixes off left-arm medium-fast bowler Kenroy Peters and was caught at deep mid-off trying to hit a third.
Earlier, Windwards lost their way after a solid opening stand of 54 between Johnson Charles and Miles Bascombe.
Charles made 32, but he was trapped lbw to leg-spinner Samuel Badree in the eighth over and this triggered a collapse, sending Windwards tumbling to 73 for four in the 13th over.
Sammy came to the crease and revived their chances, putting on 56 in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership with Lesporis to beef up his side’s total, as Badree ended with 2 for 17 from his four overs, to be the pick of the T&T bowlers.
The victory earned Windwards four points and left T&T without any, with both teams set for action tomorrow when the winners face Canada, and the losers meet Leeward Islands at the same venue.

SCORECARD
WINDWARD ISLANDS
J. Charles lbw b Badree    32
M. Bascombe c Narine b Badree    13
A. Fletcher run-out    4
D.S. Smith run-out    8
K. Lesporis not out    17
D. Sammy not out    41
Extras: (lb-7, w-7)    14
Total: (for 4 wickets off 20 overs)    129
Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-59, 3-61, 4-73.
Bowling: Rampaul 4-0-25-0, Badree 4-1-17-2, D.J. Bravo 3-0-25-0, Narine 4-1-35-0, Simmons 2-0-6-0, Mohammed 1-0-5-0, Cooper 2-0-9-0.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO innings
L. Simmons c Bascombe b Shillingford    32
A. Barath lbw b Mathurin    1
D.M. Bravo c Pascal b Sammy    15
D.J. Bravo c Sammy b Peters    51
K. Pollard b Shillingford    6
D. Ramdin c Smith b Sebastien    4
K. Cooper c Bascombe b Shillingford    3
R. Rampaul lbw b Mathurin    0
S. Narine run-out    1
J. Mohammed not out    1
S. Badree not out    0
Extras: (lb-2, w-2)    4
Total: (for 9 wickets off 20 overs)    118
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-30, 3-59, 4-65, 5-72, 6-94, 7-100, 8-108, 9-117.
Bowling: Peters 4-0-26-1, Mathurin 4-1-11-2, Pascal 1-0-16-0, Sammy 3-0-15-1, Sebastien 4-0-27-1, Shillingford 4-0-21-3.

Result: Windwards won by 11 runs.
Points: Windwards 4, T&T 0
Toss: Windwards
Man-of-the-Match: D. Sammy (Windwards)