ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – A Man-of-the-Match career-best five-wicket haul from West Indies speedster Shannon Gabriel inspired a below-par Trinidad and Tobago Red Force to a convincing 32-run victory over Windward Islands Volcanoes here Monday night, inching them even closer to a semi-final spot in the Regional Super50. Right-armer Gabriel ripped the heart out of the Volcanoes run chase with a spell of five for 33, to send them crashing for a disappointing 182 in the 47th over, in pursuit of a modest 215 for victory at Coolidge Cricket Ground.
Sunil Ambris was excellent in a career-best unbeaten 75 off 82 balls but the rest of the batting faltered yet again as only Kavem Hodge with 27 and captain Liam Sebastien, 25, managed to make it past 20.
Red Force had earlier turned in an ordinary batting effort of their own to be dismissed for 214 with 13 balls remaining in the innings.
Opener Evin Lewis struck a typically flamboyant 75 off 69 balls while Nicholas Alexis chipped in with 46 but they were just two of four players in double figures, as Red Force collapsed from 180 for three – losing their last seven wickets for just 34 runs.
Off-spinner Shane Shillingford (3-24), left-arm spinner Hodge (3-34) and seamer Kesrick Williams (3-47) finished with three wickets each.
The victory carried Red Force to 17 points, seven adrift of Group A leaders Leeward Islands Hurricanes, while Volcanoes remained fourth on eight points with little hope of advancing to the next round. Sent in, Red Force got their best start of the tournament when Lewis dominated a 104-run stand with Kyle Hope who made a patient 26 off 92 balls.
Left-hander Lewis dazzled with 11 boundaries but once he drove a flighted delivery back to Hodge in the 25th over, Red Force quickly lost two more wickets to slide to 121 for three.
Captain Denesh Ramdin, who made a busy 22 from 31 balls, joined Alexis in a 59-run stand which allowed Red Force to stage a recovery.
Alexis faced 66 deliveries and counted four fours but with the run rate lagging, Ramdin chanced his arm against Williams and picked out Hodge on the mid-wicket boundary at the end of the 43rd over.
His departure triggered a massive collapse as Williams and Shillingford combined to scythe through the lower order.
Any hopes Volcanoes had of a strong start were then scuppered when Gabriel produced a lethal two-wicket burst, to help send the innings slumping to 43 for four in the 15th over.
Not for the first time in the tournament, the right-handed Ambris came to his side’s rescue, anchoring two successive half-century stands to revive the run chase.
He struck eight fours in an 82-ball knock to notch his third straight half-century and his fifth in six outings in the tournament.
More significantly, he put on 58 for the fifth wicket with Hodge before adding a further 50 for the sixth wicket with Sebastien. Hodge, who faced 63 balls and hit four boundaries, drove leg-spinner Imran Khan into Jason Mohammed’s safe hands at cover in the 33rd over and Sebastien was unlucky to be adjudged lbw in the 41st over when Gabriel returned for a new spell.
Sebastien’s dismissal ended the Volcanoes resistance as Gabriel and Rampaul combined to send the last five wickets tumbling for 31 runs in the space of 36 deliveries.
