BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Reigning champions Trinidad & Tobago marched into the semi-finals of the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament, after steady fast-medium bowling from Ravi Rampaul and Dwayne Bravo helped them clinch an eight-wicket victory over Canada under the Duckworth-Lewis Method last evening.
Rampaul grabbed four wickets for 26 runs from his allotted four overs and Bravo claimed three for 20 from his four overs, as Canada, choosing to bat, were dismissed for 99 in the rain-affected Group-A match at Kensington Oval.
Darren Bravo, not out 42, and Denesh Ramdin, not out 30, then marched T&T to victory with 17 balls remaining, after the Red Fury were set a revised target of 91 from 18 overs, following an hour and 10 minute stoppage for the weather.
The West Indies pair added 59 – unbroken – for the third wicket before Bravo formalised the result, when he drove off-spinner Junaid Siddiqui to mid-off for a single.
T&T stumbled to 32 for two in the seventh over, losing openers Lendl Simmons and Adrian Barath cheaply.
Simmons made five before he miscued a hook and was caught at backward point of Henry Osinde in the third over.
Barath became the first batsman to have been dismissed under the new obstructing the field rule, when he appeared to have crossed the path of a throw from wicketkeeper Hamza Tariq to the bowler’s end going for a single.
Left-hander Bravo got into stride with a straight six off Siddiqui and followed up with a sweep to deep fine leg for four off the next delivery.
Ramdin got into his work, when he edged a drive to third man for his first boundary and followed up with a pair of fours in the space of three balls off Manny Aulakh.
Another straight six from the younger Bravo that landed on the roof of the towering Three Ws Stand at the northern end of the ground off Raza-ur-Rehman following the rain break and a paddle/scoop from Ramdin off the same bowler four balls later raced T&T closer to their target.
Earlier, T&T’s bowlers came under pressure from Canada’s openers Hiral Patel and Ruvindu Gunasekara, as they put on 43 for the first wicket.
The elder Bravo swung the match decisively T&T’s way, when he removed Gunasekara, Zubin Surkari and Jimmy Hansra cheaply in the space of 14 balls, leaving the Canadians 72 for four.
In between, Kevon Cooper had Raza caught at mid-wicket, deceiving the batsman with a slower ball before Patel was run out for the top score of 32 by Cooper’s direct hit at the bowler’s end from mid-wicket in the 13th over.
T&T had Canada rocking on 72 for five and Rampaul, roughed up in his opening over which cost 16, returned to scuttle the tail, claiming his four scalps in the space of nine deliveries.
T&T had to wait until the outcome of the later game between group leaders Windward Islands and two-time regional T20 champions Guyana to know exactly where they finished in the group table.
