DEFENDING champions Trinidad & Tobago Red Force must lift their overall performance to thwart the efforts of Barbados Pride in their quest to retain the NAGICO Super50 Trophy.Both teams will wage a serious battle for regional limited-over supremacy today in the grand finale which gets underway at the famous Queen’s Park Oval from 13:30hrs.
Barbados Pride, aided with a few diabolical umpiring decisions that went in their favour; emerged victorious over the T&T Red Force in their Zone A second round clash of this year’s series that was expanded to double round-robin competition.
The WICB organised the competition in such a manner as to provide for greater exposure and opportunities for the regional senior players to advance their careers and help to build a stronger cadre of top level performers who will form the core of the West Indies teams in the future.
Both teams contested the 2013 final with the Barbadians triumphing by 17 runs after they restricted the homesters to 235. Former West Indies attacking opener Dwayne Smith 83 (77 balls, 10×4 and 2×6) and Kraigg Brathwaite 36 (63 balls, 3×4) posted 127 for the first wicket and laid the foundation for the Barbados team to amass 252 all out in 48.4 overs. Jonathan Carter 49 (51 balls, 5×4), Sulieman Benn 22 (18 balls, 2×4, 1×6 plus 9-0-29-2), Carlos Brathwaite (9 runs and 10-1-41-4) and Jason Holder (5 runs and 8-0-30-2) were the other principal contributors to claiming the first lien on the NAGICO Super50 Trophy.
Smith, both Brathwaites (Kraigg and Carlos), Carter, Benn, Holder, wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich and off-spinner Ashley who were members of the 2013 triumphant Barbados team will also be involved in today’s fixture. They were also members of the team that included West Indies Test player Shai Hope and Jomel Warrican as well as Shamarh Brooks that beat the T&T Red Force in the recent second-round match this year.
Barbados Pride will most likely have the same starting eleven for this crucial encounter and they will definitely start as pre-game favourites to lift the trophy.
But the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force will be strengthened from the team that lost their winning streak to the Barbadians. Guyanese-born franchise player Narsingh Deonarine and left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, having been rested in the second-round clash with Barbados Pride; will be in the starting eleven as they were against the Guyana Jaguars team, whom they eliminated in the first semi-final last Wednesday.
Both Deonarine and Hosein will create problems for the Barbadians and this should by a mighty contest for top honours. Both Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin have been in terrific form and opener Evin Lewis, who scored his maiden List A century against Jamaica at Shaw Park in the second round; are all expected to carry the charge to the Barbadians in their quest to retain the NAGICO Super50 trophy.
It should be noted that Ramdin loves to dominate the Barbados bowlers and created history by becoming Trinidad and Tobago’s highest scorer in regional limited-overs competitions when he scored 134 during the 2013 preliminary match at the QP Oval on April 7.
On that occasion, he faced 131 balls and hammered four sixes and ten fours. Ramdin and Jason Mohammed also shared a 170-run fourth-wicket partnership which allowed T&T to amass 264 for 8 in their allotted 50 overs.
Mohammed has not been in good form with the bat in this year’s series but he was T&T Red Force batting hero last year against Guyana in the final when he registered a disciplined 117 that was decorated with six sixes and eleven fours off 132 balls.
Surprisingly, Guyana were dismissed for a paltry 65 in 23.5 overs with finger-spinner Sunil Narine the chief destroyer with impressive figures of 8-3-9-6. Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Ravi Rampaul and Kevon Cooper are absent from this year’s line-up but this year’s Red Force team have surpassed all expectations and have shown that they are a fighting unit and will not go down without intense battle.
Medium pacers Reyad Emrit and Guyanese-born Marlon Richards have improved immensely and their greater accuracy and seam movement through the air and off the pitch can be disconcerting for opposing batsmen. They will be supported by T&T Red Force’s new find in leg-spinner Jon Russ Jagessar who has proved his worth and ability to get wickets at crucial stages.
He has been the team’s most successful bowler and, like Deonarine and Hosein, has demonstrated that rare ability to get extra bounce or turn from docile pitches.
While both teams seem evenly matched, the Barbadians hold the edge in terms of experience and higher-calibre players in their squad.
But the Trinidadians are equally determined and they will be tough nuts to overpower in their quest to retain the trophy. The Jason Mohammed-led Red Force team would seek to demonstrate that they can rise to the occasion and win the title without the majority of their established West Indian star players.
This day-night final promises to be another mighty showdown between two arch-rivals.
Umpires are Patrick Gustard and Lennox Abraham. Joel Wilson is the TV umpire while Leslie Reifer Jr is the fourth umpire. Match referee is Michael Ragoonath.