A miserly spell from Sunil Narine was trumped by a typically enterprising half-century from Dwayne Smith as reigning Caribbean T20 champions Trinidad and Tobago lost by four wickets in a tense finish to their second match in the UWI Cave Hill Twenty20 Festival on Wednesday night.
Narine, the newly-minted West Indies off-spinner, grabbed three wickets for three runs from his allotted four overs, but Smith hit the top score of 68 as the Barbadians, chasing 120 for victory, hit the jackpot from the final ball of the feature match of a double-header at the Three Ws Oval.
Ryan Hinds ushered Barbados over the finish line before a crowd of close to 2,000, when he whipped a delivery from Rayad Emrit to deep mid-wicket and scrambled two with batting partner Carlos Brathwaite in the face of a wayward return from fielder Kevon Cooper.
The match followed a worrying 41-run defeat for the Combined Campuses & Colleges (CCC) at the hands of an All Star selection, despite a memorable spell from T&T-born all-rounder Yannick Ottley in which he grabbed a hat-trick.
T&T, Barbados and the CCC are using the tournament as their final preparation for the Caribbean T20 championship which opens next Monday in Antigua.
Feeble batting continued to plague T&T, after they chose to bat and limped to 119 for eight from their 20 overs in the nightcap match.
Skipper Denesh Ramdin led the way with 34 and Jason Mohammed scored 28 to add some respectability to the visitors’ total.
West Indies fast-medium bowler Brathwaite was the pick of the Barbadian bowlers with three for 14, while Sulieman Benn and Javon Searles took two wickets apiece.
Smith kept Barbados in the hunt, smashing four fours and three sixes from 54 balls, sharing a vital second wicket stand with his captain and West Indies batsman Kirk Edwards.
Darren Bravo continued to let himself down with his slipshod fielding, dropping a straightforward chance at cover off Cooper shortly after Smith had reached 50.
Narine brought T&T back into the match late, grabbing two wickets in the penultimate over, leaving Barbados to get ten in the final over.
Earlier, Ottley grabbed five wickets for nine runs from his four overs, as the All Stars were dismissed for 138 in 19.2 overs.
He rocked the All Stars batting when he removed Omar Phillips, Raymon Reifer and Jed Yearwood to leave them wobbling on 89 for six, after top-scorer Shane Ramsey, with 37, and fellow opener Omar Phillips, with 21, gave the select side a bright start of in an opening stand of 56.
West Indies Under-19 wicketkeeper/batsman Sunil Ambris revived the innings with a quickfire 30.
CCC slumped to 23 for four before Ramsey, bowling his off-spin, wobbled them with four for 21 from his four overs and they stumbled to 97 for nine from their 20 overs.
Kyle Mayers topped the batting with 32.
The Festival continued yesterday, when T&T faced CCC and Barbados met All Stars.
The Final of the tournament is today.
(Source http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/BARBADOS_EDGE_t_t-136786898.html)
