T&T takes President's Cup
Tuesday, November 2 2004
*The Final*
Trinidad and Tobago vs. Guyana
Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Toss: Trinidad and Tobago
Daren Ganga triumphantly lifted the President's Cup yesterday when Trinidad and Tobago beat Guyana by 4 wickets in the final. The Trinis recovered from 50/5 to ultimately get the 161 required for victory for loss of just one more wicket.
Things started with a splash and play was reduced to 45 overs per side due to rain. Ganga won the toss and inserted the Guyanese batsmen on the Kensington Oval track. His bowlers then backed him up immediately. Krishna Arjune (4), Narsingh Deonarine (2), Lennox Cush (0) and Derwin Christian (2) were all back in the pavilion at 19/4. A solid stand was required and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (43) and Damodar Daesrath obliged.
The two put on 78 runs for the fifth wicket until Daesrath was dismissed by Sherwin Ganga a run short of his half-century. Chanderpaul and McGarrell took the score to 136 then the former fell. Receiving a full toss from the returning seamer Reyad Emrit, who took 3 wickets in his opening burst, Chanderpaul lobbed the simplest of catches to deep square leg as he lost control of an ultimately one-handed shot.
McGarrell's contribution was a useful 29, but the Guyana tail folded with little fight due partly to a couple of run outs. The final score of 160 all out took 43.4 overs to compile. The leading Trinidad and Tobago bowler was Reyad Emrit with 4/27, but Richard Kelly (7-0-26-2 including 8 wides), Rodney Sooklal (9-2-25-0) and Sherwin Ganga (9-2-32-1) were also solid contributors.
Casting his injury woes of the past few years behind him, Reon King set about to ensure that victory would not come easily for Trinidad and Tobago. He clawed Guyana back into things with the wickets of Shazam Babwah (0) and Daren Ganga (0) with only 12 runs on the board. Ganga's was a particularly spectacular dismissal, as he edged a brilliant offstump delivery from King to an even better catch by Dowlin at first slip.
The man in form, Sherwin Ganga played a couple of glorious strokes, but got out to a miscued pull off Crandon. The score of 36/3 later became 49/4 then 49/5 with the additions of Gregory Mahabir (2) and Ricardo Powell (0) to Crandon's bowling stats. Dinesh Ramdin then joined the incumbent Imran Jan and batted in a characteristically cool manner.
The men in red and black began to claw their way back into the contest and stand-in captain (for the injured Chanderpaul) McGarrell tossed the ball to Reon King in search of another breakthrough. It took only one ball for his wishes to be granted and Ramdin (24) bottom-edged a very wide delivery to Christian behind the stumps - 83/6. Still the long Trinidad and Tobago batting lineup continued on.
Richard Kelly, already with a matchwinning knock in his tournament résumé, partnered Jan. The two left-handers were sensible in rotating the strike and inching closer and closer to the total. Once the score crossed 100 and victory was easier in sight, Kelly elected to ease things further by smashing a couple of huge sixes off the legspin of Nagamootoo.
Imran Jan took strike at 156/6 with his team needing just 5 runs for victory. He tickled a ball from Crandon to the fine leg fence for his half-century and to draw the scores level. Playing the same shot to the following delivery, victory was achieved with a single. Jan was unbeaten on 54 off 100 and Kelly on 42 off 64 balls.
The celebrations were immediate as it was Trinidad and Tobago's first regional title since 1996, when they beat Guyana to win the Red Stripe Bowl. In addition to lifting the cup, T&T was bombarded with player achievement awards, winning all four in the "Final Four" category:
Best Batsman: Sherwin Ganga
Best Bowler: Sherwin Ganga
Best Wicketkeeper: Dinesh Ramdin
Best Fielder: Daren Ganga
Guyana innings 160 all out (43.4 overs)
Damodar Daesrath 49, Shivnarine Chanderpaul 43
Reyad Emrit 4/27 (9), Richard Kelly 2/26 (7)
Trinidad and Tobago innings 161/6 (39.2 overs)
Imran Jan 54 not out, Richard Kelly 42 not out
Reon King 3/27 (9), Esuan Crandon 3/28 (7.2)
Result: Trinidad and Tobago won by 4 wicket
Man of the Match: Richard Kelly
Posted by Liam