by D. Victor

Created on: July 29, 2010

Trinidad and Tobago faced Jamaica in the first clash of Caribbean heavyweights in Zone A and the tournament on a whole. Both teams already qualified for the semi-finals, having won both of their previous matches against Canada and Leeward Islands. The last time these two teams met in this format was at the 2008 Stanford T20 final, where T&T whipped Jamaica by nine wickets in Antigua. This time, the match was at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain. The home advantage and winning mentality of the hosts made them slight favourites in this top-of-the-table clash.

Steady rains, throughout the afternoon and early evening, delayed the start of the event. Eventually, play got underway at 9.00 p.m. and the match was reduced to 18 overs per side. T&T batted first in this night game and William Perkins got the innings off to a brisk start in the first over. After scoring 14 runs off the first 10 balls, T&T lost their first wicket when Dave Bernard Jr. deceived Adrian Barath with a slower ball. Three runs later, Perkins was headed back to the pavilion after being bowled by Krishmar Santokie. The home side lost another top-order batsman (Lendl Simmons) to reach an unsteady 24/3 in the fifth over.

T&T captain Daren Ganga helped repair the innings with 17 runs off 13 balls. When he was dismissed, Dwayne Bravo joined his younger half-brother, Darren Bravo, at the wicket. The brothers posted 69 runs for the fifth wicket before Dwayne departed for a well-played 28 off 19 balls. Big-hitting Kieron Pollard did not last long, falling for just five. However, the hero of the night for T&T was Darren Bravo, whose 65 off 44 balls helped the home side to 157/7 off their 18 overs. Krishmar Santokie led the bowling for the Jamaicans, with the excellent figures of 5/24 off four overs.

Jamaica had a terrible start when replacement opener Brenton Barchment was lbw to Dwayne Bravo in the first over of the Jamaica innings. Marlon Samuels and opener Xavier Marshall a decent second-wicket partnership of 42 runs in 32 balls. However, a collapse saw Jamaica slip to 53/5 in the 19th over, after being 43/1 in the sixth over. Carlton Baugh and Wavell Hinds prevented a calamity with a 28-run partnership in which three sixes were hit. However, a late-order collapse saw Jamaica lose their last five wickets for 27 runs. Darren Bravo was the player of the match, helping his side to top Zone A and face the runner-up from Zone B.

 

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