BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Combined Campuses and Colleges powered their way into Sunday’s final of the Regional Super50 when they stunned odds-on favourites Trinidad and Tobago by 140 runs at Kensington Oval here yesterday.
Defending a respectable but hardly challenging total of 232 for seven in the first day/night semi-final, CCC amazingly bundled out T&T for a miserable 92 off 31.2 overs, to leave the previously unbeaten side shell-shocked.
The Trinidadians were rocked by Vincentian fast bowler Keswick Williams who picked up three for 16 from seven lethal overs while left-arm seamer Raymon Reifer (2-11) and leg-spinner Akeem Dewar (2-14) weighed in with two wickets apiece.
Only Rayad Emrit with a top score of 23, along with Jason Mohammed (14) and Sherwin Ganga (11), made it into double figures.
Earlier, 19-year-old opener Anthony Alleyne fell agonisingly short of three figures for 99, as CCC flourished after winning the toss and opting to bat.
The left-hander faced 139 balls and struck eight fours and got great support from Nekoli Parris who hit 43 and Chadwick Walton who chipped in with 25.
Left-arm spinner Yannick Ottley was the best bowler for Trinidad with three for 37 while leg-spinner Imran Khan (2-37) and off-spinner Sherwin Ganga (2-39) finished with two wickets each.
CCC were given a sound start by Alleyne and Walton who put on 45 off 39 balls for the first wicket. While Alleyne opted for the role of sheet anchor, Walton played his natural attacking game, slamming the first three deliveries of the day from pacer Marlon Richards for boundaries.
Walton hammered four fours overall in a breezy 21-ball knock before he gifted his wicket to Ottley, picking out Ganga at deep mid-wicket off a full toss in the bowler’s second over.
Ottley accounted for the next two wickets to fall, trapping Shacaya Thomas lbw for nine in the ninth over with the score on 58, before having captain Kyle Corbin caught at long on after struggling 40 balls over 14.
Any collapse that appeared imminent was quickly averted, thanks to an 83-run, fourth wicket stand between Alleyne and Parris.
Alleyne, in only his second regional one-day game, raised his second half-century in as many outings off 69 balls and seemed destined for a century before his demise in the 48th over.
Parris, meanwhile, stroked three fours and the only six of the innings in a knock that required 60 deliveries.
He fell at the end of the 41st over, missing a big shot at a full length delivery from Khan at 178 for four and veteran Floyd Reifer (9) put on a further 22 with Alleyne, before he was held at cover by Mohammed off Khan.
Alleyne was then adjudged lbw to one from Ganga that replays showed pitched outside leg stump.
With bets still heavily on T&T, CCC struck a telling blow in the third over when Williams had Lendl Simmons caught at second slip by Corbin for five with the score on eight.
With just four runs added, the out-of-sorts Adrian Barath followed, pulling Williams into the hands of Dewar at mid-wicket, in the fifth over.
Williams again struck in his next over, getting left-hander Justin Guillen to slash at one to be taken by Parris at point, as T&T plunged to 19 for three in the seventh over.
Desperately needing a hero, T&T found none as wickets continued to tumble. Ottley was run out at the non-strikers end for one after taking exploratory steps over a sharp single and failing to regain his ground and the prized wicket of captain Denesh Ramdin followed soon after when the West Indies wicketkeeper attempting to play Raymon Reifer to leg and got a leading edge to mid-off after he had made just seven.
Tottering at 39 for five, there was no respite for the tormented Trinidadians. Mohammed was superbly held behind by Walton off Ramon Reifer with one run added before Khan (4) perished via the run route, failing to beat Thomas’ throw from cover.
In a terminal decline at 44 for seven in the 18th over, Emrit and Ganga tried their hand at a miracle with a 34-run, eighth wicket partnership, a rearguard action that only delayed the inevitable.
Emrit faced 37 balls and counted three boundaries but once he was struck in front by Dewar in the 28th over, T&T’s defeat came swiftly.
Scoreboard
CCC
+C Walton c Ganga b Ottley 25
A Alleyne lbw b Ganga 99
S Thomas lbw b Ottley 9
*K Corbin c Mohammed b Ottley 14
N Parris b Khan 43
F Reifer c Mohammed b Khan 9
R Reifer not out 16
A Dewar c Richards b Ganga 2
K McClean not out 5
Extras (lb5, w2, nb3) 10
TOTAL (7 wkts, 50 overs) 232
Did not bat: R Austin, K Williams.
Fall of wickets: 1-45 (Walton, 6.3 overs), 2-58 (Thomas, 9), 3-95 (Corbin, 20.2), 4-178 (Parris, 41), 5-200 (F Reifer, 44.1), 6-215 (Alleyne, 47.2), 7-217 (Dewar, 47.5)
Bowling: Richards 2-0-19-0, Gabriel 7.1-0-45-0 (w1, nb3), Ottley 10-0-37-3 (w1), Ganga 9.5-2-39-2, Emrit 8-0-34-0, Khan 10-0-37-2, Simmons 3-0-16-0.
T&T
L Simmons c Corbin b Williams 5
A Barath c Dewar b Williams 4
J Guillen c Parris b Williams 7
J Mohammed c wkp Walton b RA Reifer 14
K Ottley run out 1
*+D Ramdin c McClean b R Reifer 7
I Khan run out 4
S Ganga run out 11
R Emrit lbw b Dewar 23
M Richards not out 9
S Gabriel c Corbin b Dewar 5
Extras (w2) 2
TOTAL (all out; 31.2 overs) 92
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Simmons, 2.1 overs), 2-12 (Barath, 4.2), 3-19 (Guillen, 6.4), 4-29 (Ottley, 9.3), 5-39 (Ramdin, 13.2), 6-40 (Mohammed, 15.1), 7-44 (Khan, 17.4), 8-78 (Emrit, 27.3), 9-79 (Ganga, 28.3), 10-92 (Gabriel, 31.2)
Bowling: Williams 7-2-16-3 (w1), McClean 5-0-16-0, Parris 6-0-18-0, R Reifer 5-2-11-2 (w1), Dewar 5.2-1-14-2, Austin 3-0-17-0.
Result: CCC won by 140 runs.
Position: CCC qualify for Super50 final.
Man-of-the-Match: A Alleyne.
Toss: CCC.
Umpires: Nigel Duguid, Patrick Gustard; TV – Gregory Brathwaite.
