PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad & Tobago finished third in the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship, when they crushed Jamaica by 10 wickets in the low-scoring, weather-affected Consolation Final yesterday.
Chasing a revised target of 89 from 13 overs, after rain interrupted their pursuit, T&T romped to victory with 17 balls to spare in the penultimate match of the competition at the Queen’s Park Oval.
The result was formalised, when Jamaica captain Tamar Lambert delivered three leg-side wides.
Jamaica, choosing to bat, were restricted to 94 for seven, after rain delayed the start by an hour-and-a-half, reduced the contest to 14 overs-a-side.
T&T openers Adrian Barath and Lendl Simmons then made light work of the target, with a volley of enterprising strokes.
Barath struck five boundaries in 39 not-out from 34 balls, and Simmons smote three fours and one six in 36 not-out from 27 balls.
Earlier, the Jamaicans ran into trouble on 11 for three in the fourth over, and never fully recovered, despite a top score from Carlton Baugh Jr of 40 from 29 balls that included four fours and one six.
Baugh added 39 for the fourth wicket with Danza Hyatt in the best stand of the Jamaica innings, but there was neither substance nor stability from the rest of the batting.
Dwayne Bravo set Jamaica back early, when he had West Indies captain Chris Gayle caught at deep mid-wicket for a three-ball duck.
Kevon Cooper, later named Man-of-the-Match, bowled Xavier Marshall for one with the first ball of the next over.
Things reached crisis proportions for Jamaica, when Marlon Samuels was run out for nine, after Hyatt failed to respond to his call for a single to mid-off from the bowling of Cooper.
Baugh joined Hyatt and consolidated for the Jamaicans, but just when they were looking to increase the tempo, the visitors suffered another setback.
Hyatt, whose stroke-filled 89 in the second semi-final against Barbados was a joy to watch, failed to read Dave Mohammed’s chinaman, and was bowled for 13 in the eighth over.
This triggered a collapse that saw four wickets fall for 33 runs in the space of 32 deliveries.
Cooper ended with two wickets for eight runs from three overs, and Mohammed two for 12 from two overs.
