T & T wins CT/20 title; Windwards finishes fourth

Trinidad and Tobago snatched the 2011 Caribbean T/20 Competition last Sunday night at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, with a comfortable 36-run win over Hampshire.{{more}}

The twin-island state cricketers batted first and reached 147 for 7. Darren Bravo hit 41, Denesh Ramdin 34 and Lendl Simmons 31.

In reply, Hampshire was strangled and could have only mustered 111 for 8 from their 20 overs.

Bravo earned the Man of the Match award. Simmons was later adjudged Star of the Tournament.

The win gave the Trinidadians the right to represent the Caribbean at the Airtel Champions League in India, in September.

It will be the second time for the Trinidadians at the lucrative event. They were runners up to New South Wales in the 2009 version.

In the third place play-off, the Windwards went under to Jamaica by 9 runs. Jamaica batted first and scored 153 for 6 off their 20 overs. Danza Hyatt scored 43 not out, Xavier Marshall 36 and Shawn Findlay 25. Nelon Pascal took 3 for 21.

In reply, the Windwards reached 144 for 9 from their 20 overs.

Lindon Lawrence struck 36 and Gairy Mathurin 26. Dave Bernard Jr. took 3 for 25, Odean Brown 23 for 34 and Gary Cotterel 2 for 17.

It was a revenge for the Jamaicans, who were beaten by the Windwards last Thursday night by 17 runs, to put the four islands’ grouping at the top of the heap in their zone.

But the Windwards, in reaching the semi-final, faltered against Hampshire by four runs in the last four overs.

Batting first, Hampshire’s opener Johann Myburgh blazed 88 from 58 balls, with half a dozen maximums and five fours, as they posted a challenging 166 for 4 from 20 overs.

Windwards challenged until the 16th over, in which they lost three wickets, including Andre Fletcher, who had smashed 44 from 43 balls, with three fours and a six, while Devon Smith made the same number of boundaries in his 27.

The Windwards finally reached 162 for 7 from their 20 overs, to lose by four runs.

Trinidad and Tobago, in the semi-final, grounded Jamaica by eight wickets.

Jamaica batted first and limped to 136 for 9 from 20 overs, with a top score of 36 from all rounder Andre Russell, who hit 36 from 17 balls with three sixes and two fours.

Trinidad and Tobago bolted to the target, with Lendl Simmons hitting 51 from 49 balls and Adrian Barath 37 from 34 balls. Darren Bravo weighed in with 25 from 19 balls, as they reached 140 for 2 in 17.5 overs. (RT)