DESPITE a resilient half century from Jason Mohammed, Trinidad and Tobago ended on the losing side when they suffered a five wicket defeat at the hands of Combined Campuses and Colleges in their first round Super50 encounter at the Everest Cricket Club ground yesterday.
Winning the toss and opting to field first, the University Students rocked the Twin Island Republic’s top order batting to leave them shakily placed on 69 for 5, with 18 year old Kyle Mayers who was later named the man- of- the- match, doing the damage with the ball as he ended with 2 for 32, as TT reached 173 for 9 from their 50 overs.
Mohammed brought some respectability to his team’s total with a defiant 77 that took him 107 deliveries to compile and included nine fours and one six, before being the ninth batsman to go in the final over.
All told, Mohammed faced 107 deliveries and struck nine fours and one six in his 77, reaching his half century from 87 deliveries when he struck Nekoli Parris over long on for 6 which went along with his five fours at that time, before his demise.
Kavesh Kantasingh whose figures read 12-4-30-2, mesmerised the Trinidadians batting at the top of the order alongside Mayers, sending back William Perkins via the lbw route off the fourth delivery of the second over.
Skipper Darren Ganga and Dwayne Bravo both made 9 while Sherwin Ganga’s 12 was the lone double figure score amongst T&T top order batting, before Mohammed who added 41 for the seventh wicket with Rayad Emrit (11) and a further 28 from 4.4 overs with Stephen Katwaroo (4*) intervened.
Kevin Cooper who was given a life by Parris at slip off Jason Dawes in the 27th over, chipped in with 10 (1×6) while adding 19 from 6.5 overs with Mohammed, as the CCC bowlers kept a tight rein on the T&T batting.
CCC began their reply in fine style, with Miles Bascombe 45 (3×4, 1×6) and skipper Romel Currency 31 (3×4), adding 76 for the first wicket from 19.1 overs with Bascombe hitting the last delivery of the first over bowled by Samuel Badree back over the bowler’s head for 6.
The pair posted their team’s first 50 from 11.2 overs, in comparison to TT’s 18.3 overs, but the lost of Currency who was bowled by Emrit’s first delivery after the first water break having faced 57 deliveries for his score, slowed down the scoring.
Nicholas Alexis (00) and Bascombe succumbed shortly after and from the comfortable position of 76 without loss, CCC sunk to 86 for 3 in the 27th over.
Player/coach Floyd Reifer who made an unbeaten 34 (2×4, 1×6) and Parris pushed the score to 116 before disaster struck again as CCC lost two wickets rapidly.
Parris was smartly stumped by Stephen Katwaroo off Sherwin Ganga for 9 while Ryan Wiggins wandered out his crease after turning a delivery from Sherwin Ganga to midwicket where a lurking Emrit fired his return to Katwaroo.
That was T&T’s last success, as Mayers joined forces with Reifer who struck Bravo back over his head for 6 followed by a four in the 35th over, and took their team home with an unbroken 62 runs partnership that took them 11.2 overs to accumulate.
Mayers himself was in a no nonsense mood, hitting two deliveries from Cooper in the 45th over with authority for four, while he later struck Sunil Narine audaciously down to long on, where the ball went through the legs of Bravo and into the boundary for four on both occasions.
Fittingly, Mayers drove Sherwin Ganga to long on and past a diving Bravo to seal the wind that enabled CCC to emulate Jamaica who had earlier defeated a hapless looking Leeward Islands at the Guyana National Stadium.
Only Sherwin Ganga who took 1 for 30 off 10.4 overs, produced the best bowling figures for TT, even though Emrit, Narine and Cooper each took a wicket.
In Super 50 matches scheduled for today Windwards oppose Barbados at the Everest Cricket Club ground, while Guyana battle with Sagicor HPC at the Providence Stadium.

T&T Innings

W. Perkins lbw Kantasingh 00
J. Guillen run out (Parris) 14
D. Ganga lbw Mayers 09
D J. Bravo c Parris b Mayers 09
J. Mohammed run out (Alexis) 77
S. Ganga c wkpr Smith b Dawes 12
K. Cooper lbw Kantasingh 10
R. Emrit run out (Currency) 11
S. Badree b Parris 04
S. Katwaroo not out 04
S. Narine 03
Extras (w13, lb6, nb1) 20
Total (for 9 wickets off 50 overs) 173
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-22, 3-37, 4-43, 5-69, 6-88, 7-129, 8-142, 9-170
Bowling: Dawes 8-1-22-1 (w4), Kantasingh 12-4-30-2, Mayers 7-0-32-2 (w3), Austin 12-3-35-0 (w5), Parris 10-0-36-1 (w1), Currency 1-0-12-0 (nb1)

CCC Innings

R. Currency b Emrit 31
M. Bascombe lbw Narine 45
N. Alexis lbw Cooper 00
F. Reifer not out 34
N. Parris stp Katwaroo b S. Ganga 09
R. Wiggins run out (Emrit/Katwaroo) 00
K. Mayers not out 40
Extras (w11, b2, lb5)18
Total (for 8 wickets off 48.4 overs) 177
Fall of wickets: 1-76, 2-77, 3-86, 4-116, 5-116
Bowling: Badree 7-1-30-0, DJ Bravo 7-0-34-0, Narine 12-1-35-1, Emrit 6-2-10-1, Cooper 6-0-31-1, S. Ganga 10.4- 2-30-1
Points:  CCC 2, T&T 0.