.jpg)
REGIONAL T20 champions Trinidad and Tobago also called the ‘Red Force’ certainly lived up to that billing last Saturday night, when they defeated host Guyana by 11 runs in the first of two practice matches at the Guyana National Stadium, providence.
This was due mainly to the batting of pugnacious opener Lendl Simmons and teenaged wicketkeeper/batsman Nicholas Pooran, backed by some discipline bowling from Rayad Emrit, who was later named Man- of- the- Match, and leg spinner Samuel Badree.
The right handed Simmons, who struck the first ball of the contest from Steven Jacobs over long on for six, topscored with 34 that took him 37 deliveries to accumulate and was decorated with five fours along with the solitary six and Pooran offered support with an unbeaten 33 (22balls, 5×4).
Opener Evin Lewis also contributed 22 (18 balls, 2×4, 2×6) to T&T’s score of 134 for 7 from their 20 overs, accumulated after they won the toss and opted to bat first, even as Veerasammy Permaul and Krishmar Santokie snared two wickets each for 20 and 28 runs, respectively, for Guyana.
When the home team batted, Leon Johnson made a resilient 41 (42balls, 2×4, 2×6), skipper Christopher Barnwell 22 and Robin Bacchus 16 but it was not enough to stop the rampaging Red Force lineup, who were indebted to Emrit’s 3 for 10 and Badree’s 2 for 14 as Guyana were limited to 123 for 7 when their overs expired.
Simmons and Lewis posted 60 for the first wicket, including 40 from the first six overs, with Lewis also hitting Jacobs for two sixes in the fifth over, while Simmons struck Permaul, his Amazon Warriors teammate for two fours during the period.
Paul Wintz (1 for 12) removed Lewis via the lbw route and shortly after, Simmons pushed one back tamely to Permaul, leaving the Red Force who are preparing to compete in the Champions League T20 tournament which bowls off 16 days from today in India, on 63 for 2 after 9.2 overs.
Adrian Barath, whose 15 included a six off Santokie and Jason Mohammed (9) pushed the score to 84 before Barath holed out to Jacobs at long on off Permaul and he was quickly followed by Mohammed, who picked out Bacchus in the same position off Barnwell and Denesh Ramdin (02) feathered one through to Anthony Bramble off Devendra Bishoo (1 for 17) at 103 for 5 in the 14th over.
Pooran and Sherwin Ganga (04) added 31 for the sixth wicket, before Santokie removed both Ganga and Yannick Ottley (00) off successive deliveries in the final over, to start last night’s second practice encounter on a hattrick.
Bacchus 16 (13balls, 3×4) and Trevon Griffith 12 (18balls, 1×4) posted 26 for the first wicket, with the former hitting Ravi Rampaul for two fours in the second over, followed by another off Badree in the third, before he was magnificently caught by Ganga at deep midwicket.
Entered Johnson who, surprising was not bought by any of the six franchises which contested the inaugural Limacol Caribbean Premier League which culminated last Saturday with the Jamaica Tallawahs recording a seven wicket victory over Guyana Amazon Warriors, pulled Ganga for the first of his two sixes.
He lost the services of Griffith, who was caught by Lewis in Badree’s final over, after they added 10 runs for the second wicket, paving the way for Barnwell to join Johnson for a third wicket partnership which accrued 37 runs for the home team.
Barnwell displayed a pugnacious attitude, by hitting Ottley’s first delivery over wide long on for 6, before he was caught by Ottley, who ran back from third man to take the offer off the bowling of Lendl Simmons, with Guyana 73 for 3 in the 12th over.
Entered the debutant Rajiv Ivan, who looked composed during his brief stay at the wicket, wherein he added 26 for the fourth wicket with Johnson, contributing 13 of those runs which included a six off the hapless Ottley.
When Ivan was dismissed caught at deep midwicket by Ganga off Emrit, Jacobs (12, 1×4) entered and got a life from Shannon Gabriel who grassed a sitter at long on off Ganga, after he had struck the same bowler for his solitary four two balls earlier.
Guyana needed to score 21 from two overs, with Emrit bowling the penultimate over in which he dismissed Jacobs and Bramble (01) while conceding a mere 3runs, leaving Johnson and the lower order to score the remaining 18 runs from the final over.
Ramdin displayed faith in Ottley to send down the final six legal deliveries of the contest, even though the left arm spinner, up to that stage had conceded 24 runs from his previous two overs and when Johnson smashed the first delivery for four, the sprinkling of spectators at the venue had more than a million reasons to shout.
The next delivery was a well directed yorker, which Johnson managed to block out before he was caught by Emrit off the third delivery, while Permaul could only managed two from the other three deliveries, as the Red Force showed why they are the Kings of T20 cricket in the Caribbean.
This was due mainly to the batting of pugnacious opener Lendl Simmons and teenaged wicketkeeper/batsman Nicholas Pooran, backed by some discipline bowling from Rayad Emrit, who was later named Man- of- the- Match, and leg spinner Samuel Badree.
The right handed Simmons, who struck the first ball of the contest from Steven Jacobs over long on for six, topscored with 34 that took him 37 deliveries to accumulate and was decorated with five fours along with the solitary six and Pooran offered support with an unbeaten 33 (22balls, 5×4).
Opener Evin Lewis also contributed 22 (18 balls, 2×4, 2×6) to T&T’s score of 134 for 7 from their 20 overs, accumulated after they won the toss and opted to bat first, even as Veerasammy Permaul and Krishmar Santokie snared two wickets each for 20 and 28 runs, respectively, for Guyana.
When the home team batted, Leon Johnson made a resilient 41 (42balls, 2×4, 2×6), skipper Christopher Barnwell 22 and Robin Bacchus 16 but it was not enough to stop the rampaging Red Force lineup, who were indebted to Emrit’s 3 for 10 and Badree’s 2 for 14 as Guyana were limited to 123 for 7 when their overs expired.
Simmons and Lewis posted 60 for the first wicket, including 40 from the first six overs, with Lewis also hitting Jacobs for two sixes in the fifth over, while Simmons struck Permaul, his Amazon Warriors teammate for two fours during the period.
Paul Wintz (1 for 12) removed Lewis via the lbw route and shortly after, Simmons pushed one back tamely to Permaul, leaving the Red Force who are preparing to compete in the Champions League T20 tournament which bowls off 16 days from today in India, on 63 for 2 after 9.2 overs.
Adrian Barath, whose 15 included a six off Santokie and Jason Mohammed (9) pushed the score to 84 before Barath holed out to Jacobs at long on off Permaul and he was quickly followed by Mohammed, who picked out Bacchus in the same position off Barnwell and Denesh Ramdin (02) feathered one through to Anthony Bramble off Devendra Bishoo (1 for 17) at 103 for 5 in the 14th over.
Pooran and Sherwin Ganga (04) added 31 for the sixth wicket, before Santokie removed both Ganga and Yannick Ottley (00) off successive deliveries in the final over, to start last night’s second practice encounter on a hattrick.
Bacchus 16 (13balls, 3×4) and Trevon Griffith 12 (18balls, 1×4) posted 26 for the first wicket, with the former hitting Ravi Rampaul for two fours in the second over, followed by another off Badree in the third, before he was magnificently caught by Ganga at deep midwicket.
Entered Johnson who, surprising was not bought by any of the six franchises which contested the inaugural Limacol Caribbean Premier League which culminated last Saturday with the Jamaica Tallawahs recording a seven wicket victory over Guyana Amazon Warriors, pulled Ganga for the first of his two sixes.
He lost the services of Griffith, who was caught by Lewis in Badree’s final over, after they added 10 runs for the second wicket, paving the way for Barnwell to join Johnson for a third wicket partnership which accrued 37 runs for the home team.
Barnwell displayed a pugnacious attitude, by hitting Ottley’s first delivery over wide long on for 6, before he was caught by Ottley, who ran back from third man to take the offer off the bowling of Lendl Simmons, with Guyana 73 for 3 in the 12th over.
Entered the debutant Rajiv Ivan, who looked composed during his brief stay at the wicket, wherein he added 26 for the fourth wicket with Johnson, contributing 13 of those runs which included a six off the hapless Ottley.
When Ivan was dismissed caught at deep midwicket by Ganga off Emrit, Jacobs (12, 1×4) entered and got a life from Shannon Gabriel who grassed a sitter at long on off Ganga, after he had struck the same bowler for his solitary four two balls earlier.
Guyana needed to score 21 from two overs, with Emrit bowling the penultimate over in which he dismissed Jacobs and Bramble (01) while conceding a mere 3runs, leaving Johnson and the lower order to score the remaining 18 runs from the final over.
Ramdin displayed faith in Ottley to send down the final six legal deliveries of the contest, even though the left arm spinner, up to that stage had conceded 24 runs from his previous two overs and when Johnson smashed the first delivery for four, the sprinkling of spectators at the venue had more than a million reasons to shout.
The next delivery was a well directed yorker, which Johnson managed to block out before he was caught by Emrit off the third delivery, while Permaul could only managed two from the other three deliveries, as the Red Force showed why they are the Kings of T20 cricket in the Caribbean.
