(Barbados Nation) Trinidad and Tobago’s attempt to prevent the WICB regional four-day final from bowling off today has come to nothing.
The historic final, between first-time finalists Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) and Jamaica will get going this morning at the 3Ws Oval as scheduled after much uncertainty on the eve of the match.
Trinidad and Tobago, citing inadequacies in the rules after Jamaica were awarded a place in the final ahead of them, filed an application for an injunction to prevent the final from going ahead.
The matter was heard in a Port-of-Spain court yesterday afternoon and after Madame Justice Vasheist Kokaram heard arguments from the attorneys representing the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board of Control, the application was dismissed.
Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica played in a high scoring semi-final at the Frank Worrell Oval in Trinidad and the match ended in a ‘no-decision’ after neither side secured first innings lead.
After Jamaica batted for more almost two and a half days to score an imposing 664 in 201.4 overs, Trinidad and Tobago responded with 448 for nine.
Trinidad and Tobago, who finished second in the preliminaries, were contending they should advance to the final ahead of third-placed Jamaica, but the playing conditions stipulated that in the event of a no-decision in the semi-finals, the “right to advance to the final will be the team which gained the greater number of points when the two teams competed against each other in the group stage of the tournament”.
When the two teams played earlier in the season, Jamaica took a comfortable 87-run first innings lead.
The off-field happenings, however, have not affected either CCC or Jamaica in the build-up to the final and both teams were focused in their preparations at the match venue yesterday.
The match is more special for CCC men who will be appearing on their first regional final since their entry to this stage in 2007.
“Being that we are a young development side, it means a lot to the team and the Campus to be in the final. It is a big occasion for us,” CCC captain Omar Phillips told WEEKENDSPORT.
“We’ve worked hard to get to this point. We want to go all the way. It is always good to come into a final with confidence and we’re looking to come out on top.”
CCC topped the preliminaries after winning four of their seven matches, while Jamaica were the third best Caribbean team.
In five previous meetings between the two teams, Jamaica have won three, but CCC will take comfort from the fact that they took first innings lead over their opponents when they met them in Jamaica earlier in the season.
“They are the previous champions. We have to take heed of that. We will not go into this game underestimating them,” Phillips said.
“They are a regular regional champion side. We will take it stride for stride. The guys are focused. We do not take anyone for granted.”
CCC will look to their leading run-scorer Kyle Corbin (571 runs), opener Romel Currency (410 runs), promising rookie all-rounders Carlos Brathwaite (239 runs, 26 wickets) and Nkrumah Bonner (388 runs, 14 wickets), along with the potent spin combination Ryan Austin (39 wickets) and Kavesh Kantasingh (37 wickets).
Jamaica boast of the season’s top run-scorer in Marlon Samuels (830), but the experienced Brendan Nash (626) and Wavell Hinds (611) have also been among the runs.
Captain Tamar Lambert said he expected a keen contest.
“It’s going to be a good game. CCC got the better of us in the preliminary round back home in Jamaica. They’ve been pushing us for a number of years now and a number of games have been close,” he said.
“At the end of the day it is who plays the best four days of cricket that will come out on top.”
The two teams will be vying for the Headley/Weekes Trophy and US$12 500.
