Questionable bowling, tactics sink T&T again

Trinidad and Tobago once again sacrificed victory on the altar of defeat in another heart-breaking finish, after thoughtless bowling from Ravi Rampaul and questionable tactics from Daren Ganga condemned them to lose in a one-over eliminator, following a tie against New South Wales of Australia in the Champions League Twenty20 yesterday.

Rampaul, strangely bowling around the wicket with questionable field placements from Ganga, coughed up 16 from the final over in regulation time, as the New South Wales ninth-wicket pair of Moises Henriques and Patrick Cummins levelled the scores, replying to T&T's 139 for six in the Group A match at the Chidambaram Stadium.

West Indies fast bowler Rampaul continued to get his line and length wrong bowling around the wicket, and Ganga again employed similarly questionable field placements - choosing to soften the coverage on the leg-side boundaries - in the eliminator.

The Blues, batting first in the tie-breaker, made 18 without loss with Moises Henriques smashing Rampaul for four boundaries - including three on the leg-side - and a hard run two to make him a shoo-in for the Man-of-the-Match award.

In reply, the Red Force made a brave bid, but eventually fell short, as they managed only 16 off left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe, with West Indies opener Lendl Simmons - who had topscored with 41 - bringing further agony to the Caribbean champions, already grieving from Monday's last-ball, one-wicket loss to the Mumbai Indians, when he was caught inside the long-off boundary trying to hit a six to win the match.

Last in group

The defeat was the second straight for T&T, leaving them rock-bottom in the group, and elevating the Blues.

T&T face Cape Cobras of South Africa next Tuesday at the same venue in the third of their four group matches.

In regulation time, T&T seemed to have the match under their control, when they had NSW on the ropes on 123 for eight after the penultimate over, but Henriques and teenager Cummins collected all but one of the 17 required in the final over from Rampaul to force the match into overtime.

Sherwin Ganga was the pick of the T&T bowlers with three wickets for 26 runs from his allotted four overs and Sunil Narine snared two for 26 from his four overs.