The Trinidad and Tobago batsmen would have had to be at their best to get the 340 runs needed to beat the Windward Islands. Instead, they produced their worst.
Reaching at balls they did not need to reach for, attempting shots that weren’t necessary in the circumstances, they surrendered the regional four-day semi-final.
In 29.2 overs yesterday afternoon at the Queen’s Park Oval, the home team scratched together 105 to lose by a comprehensive 234 runs.
“Words can’t explain it, extremely disappointed,” was the way T&T coach Kelvin Williams described his feelings on the performance yesterday.
“We expect that the seniors would try and pull it through especially when you are chasing 340. It didn’t happen that way.”
With 140 overs available to them after the Windwards were eventually dismissed in their second innings for 231, just 37 minutes after lunch, Denesh Ramdin’s side had a challenging but not impossible task facing them. To get those runs however, would have required a collective effort and discipline to repel a Windwards team sensing a big chance to reach the final.
Instead, T&T wilted under left-arm seamer Kenroy Peters’ steady left-arm stuff.
By the time Imran Khan skied Peters into the deep extra cover region where Romel Currency waited, Windwards captain Liam Sebastien was already running from long-off, arms in the air in celebration of the final wicket. Victory had become as certain as the reality of the match ending on the third day.
Man-of-the-Match Peters had taken a career-best seven for 36 in 10.2 overs to be the undisputed Windwards hero. But for T&T, there were many villains.
There was no hint of the shambles to come when Lendl Simmons (31, seven fours) and Evin Lewis (17) calmly compiled 50 for the first wicket. But once Simmons snicked a Peters delivery to wicketkeeper Johnson Charles pitched in the off-stump corridor, it was time for the Windwards to beat the T&T bobolees.
The next nine wickets went down for 55 runs, the match put to bed by 4.15 in the afternoon as Lewis, Jason Mohammed, skipper Denesh Ramdin, Rayad Emrit, Marlon Richards and Khan also became Peters victims – Bravo giving second slip a straightforward catch from a flat-footed, indifferent stroke and Ramdin top-edging a reckless pull to the keeper.
