Windwards send T&T packing

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

ALREADY-QUALIFIED Windward Islands turned in an efficient all-round display to soundly whip defending champions Trinidad and Tobago by eight wickets and eliminate them from the West Indies Cricket Board Regional 50-Over Tournament, following their Group A encounter at Sabina Park yesterday.

The Winwards blasted out Trinidad and Tobago for 133 all out in 40.1 overs, then coasted to 139 for two in 33.2 overs, courtesy of unbeaten knocks from opener Devon Smith (51 not) and Keddy Lesporis (45 not out).

Darren Sammy, captain of the Windwards, said he was delighted with his team's performance because they played a very disciplined match all-round.

"This is a very big victory for us today because we were able to beat the defending champions," said Sammy, who was on Sunday named captain of the West Indies team for their tour of Sri Lanka next month.

"I am very happy with our performance because I think we played some good all-round cricket today. Our bowlers bowled pretty well and our fielders also did an excellent job for us out there," said Sammy.

PUSHED BACK

Trinidad and Tobago, which won the toss and chose to bat, were pushed on the back foot early as they lost Adrian Barath for (four) and Darren Bravo (9), with only 20 runs on the board, in the fifth over.

Despite decent contributions from Keiron Pollard (39), Dwayne Bravo (29) and Denesh Ramdin (17), Trinidad and Tobago continued losing wickets regularly and were only able to muster a paltry total.

Nelon Pascal (2-32), Mervin Matthew (2-20) and Shane Shillingford (2-22) were the main wicket-takers for the Windwards.

The Windwards got a decent start as they reached 38 before losing their first wicket, when opener Johnson Charles was dismissed off the bowling of Sherwin Ganga for 26. Ten runs later, there might have been some concerns when Ganga picked up his second wicket, having Andre Fletcher caught for nine at extra cover by Darren Bravo for 26, with the scoreboard reading 48-2 in the ninth over.

However, Smith and Lesporis repaired the innings for the Windwards and guided their team safely to the low total.

Man of the Match

Smith, who was named Man of the Match, hit four fours in his 89-ball innings, while Lesporis, who was much more aggressive, hit two sixes and two fours in 76 balls. Ganga ended with 2-26 off 9.2 overs.

Darren Ganga, captain of Trinidad and Tobago, said: "I thought the Windwards bowled and fielded pretty well, but I think our bastmen didn't apply themselves well enough at the wicket.

"We knew that 133 was going to be very difficult for us to defend ... we needed to take early wickets and to put them under pressure. However, this didn't happen and we only have ourselves to blame for this defeat," he added.

T&T

A Barath run out 4L Simmons lbw b Matthew 8DM Bravo c wkp James b Matthew 4D Ganga lbw b Pascal 6DJ Bravo c wkp James b Sammy 29+D Ramdin lbw b Shillingford 17K Pollard b Pascal 39S Ganga c Sammy b Shillingford 2S Badree c Smith b Mathurin 9D Mohammed run out 0

R Rampaul not out 2

Extras (lb1, w10, nb2) 13

TOTAL (all out, 40.1 overs) 133

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-20, 3-23, 4-38, 5-68, 6-78, 7-90, 8-114, 9-125, 10-133.

Bowling: Matthew 8-3-20-2, Pascal 7.1-0-32-2, Sammy 10-2-35-1, Shillingford 10-1-23-2, Mathurin 5-0-22-1.

WINDWARDS

D Smith not out 51J Charles b S Ganga 26A Fletcher c DM Bravo b S Ganga 9K Lesporis not out 45

Extras (b2, lb2, w4) 8

TOTAL (2 wkts, 33.2 overs) 139

Did not bat: +L James,D Sammy, G Mathurin, N Pascal, S Shillingford, M Matthew, L Sebastien.

Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-48.

Bowling: Badree 5-0-27-0, Rampaul 2-0-14-0, S Ganga 9.2-1-26-2, Mohammed 7-1-25-0, Pollard 3-0-11-0, DJ Bravo 4-0-14-0, Simmons 3-0-18-0.

Result: Windwards won by eight wickets.

Points: Windwards 5, T&T 0.

Toss: T&T.

Umpires: L Kelly, C Mack.