KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) – Trinidad and Tobago’s quest to do the double got off to the perfect start when they thoroughly thrashed the Leeward Islands by a mammoth 176 runs in the first round of the Regional Under-19 50-over Championship here yesterday.

Fresh from capturing the three-day title, T&T produced a solid batting performance on their way to posting the day’s highest total of 249 for seven from their 50 overs.

Leonardo Julien top-scored with 82 and Joshua James who stroked an unbeaten 53, were the mainstay of T&T’s innings.

Julien, who faced 114 balls and smashed four boundaries and four sixes, shared in two half-century partnerships to help guide T&T from a spot of bother early on.

He joined forces with Crystian Thurton (26) to add 62 runs for the third wicket after they had slipped to 34-2.

Following the dismissals of Thurton and Mbeki Joseph (9), he and James added 60 runs in 12 overs to help push the score to 189-5.

Once Julien lost his wicket trying to up the tempo, James found a worthy partner in Rivaldo Ramlogan who smashed a quick-fire 35 from just 20 balls to help them up to their eventual score.

James’ hit two fours and one six in his unbeaten 64-ball knock.

The Leewards never came close to mounting a serious challenge, with Teron Jadoo and Justyn Gangoo running through the middle- and lower-order to skittle them out for just 73.

With the score on 43-2, the Leewards incredibly lost their last eight wickets for just 30 runs, with Elroy Francis, who scored 32 being the only double-digit contributor.

Jadoo finished with the spectacular figures of three wickets for one run, while Gangoo snagged 3-14.

Both Guyana and the Windward Islands recorded six-wicket victories over Canada and Jamaica respectively.

Thanks to a four-wicket haul by Kevin Sinclair, Guyana bundled out Canada for 146 runs, with Kavian Naresh being Canada’s main contributor of 57.

Propelled by Joshua Persaud’s 62-ball knock of 80, Guyana then made light work of the total, racing to 147 for four in just 24 overs.

It was a similarly comfortable win for the Windward Islands who dismissed Jamaica for a paltry 159. They then motored along at almost six runs at over on their way to scoring 164-4 in 27.5 overs.

Openers Kimani Melius, who top-scored with 86 and Jahseon Alexander 58, put on 146 for the first wicket to set the Windwards on the path to victory.