T&T hunt the Eagles down, storm into semis

By Tanmay S
for Cricketain.com

Published: October 19, 2009

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Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad: Trinidad and Tobago, the team from West Indies, took Hyderabad by storm by defeating Diamond Eagles in a high scoring game. Trinidad and Tobago achieved the highest total yet in the Airtel Champions League by scoring a staggering 213 from stipulated 20 overs.

In what can be called a spectacular batting performance, Perkins, Barath, Simmons, Pollard, and Stewart of T&T entertained the crowds by ravaging Eagles bowlers and ensured their position in the semifinals. T&T are likely to play their semi final game against either Cape Cobras or Victoria.

It rained runs in Hyderabad, as over 400 runs were scored in one T20 game. Even with no international players in the team, Diamond Eagles managed to put up a worthy fight, at least better than the three IPL teams that failed to make any mark whatsoever in the series at home.

Very similar to the Cape Cobras, it seems that Trinidad and Tobago had a lot of good talent sitting outside the field in the tournament. This point was convincingly proven by Adrian Barath, who debuted in the tournament, as Darren Bravo was unfit. He did justice to the opportunity given to him by the captain. With the help of four sixes and four fours, Barath hammered 63 off just 41 deliveries as he opened the innings with Perkins.

Earlier, T&T won the toss and elected to bat, a decision that helped them secure a place in the semi finals. Darren Ganga, the T&T skipper expressed his delight of playing in India and bonding with the crowd saying that the Indian crowd has already adopted them as the home team. He was right. The task before Diamond was already tough, as their skipper Boeta Dippennar admitted. Whatever total T&T build, Eagles had to achieve it with 42 deliveries to spare in order to qualify for the semi finals. As it turned out, Eagles reached nowhere near this target, thanks to T&T’s massive score.

Perkins and Barath opened the T&T innings and raced to 66 in a matter of 6.4 overs, when they lost their first wicket in the form of Perkins as he was cleanbowled by Tshabalala. Perhaps they thought that this would slow down the rampage, but to their dismay, Simmons immediately hammered a full toss from him for a six and a four off his next delivery. Barath, who was playing silently till then, suddenly wanted to compete for runs and he hammered Tshabalala for a boundary and reached his 50. From 66, the duo took the total to 142 in 14th over when Simmons was bowled by McLaren. He scored 40 from off 25 deliveries. With 17 more runs on the board, Barath departed as he was clean bowled by du Preez. Pollard and Stewart took the charge of the situation and improved it further. Pollard scored a quick 23 from 11 deliveries. With the help of 3 fours and 3 sixes, Stewart hammered 33 off just 11 deliveries. Dwayne Bravo and Stewart took the score to 213 with an unbeaten partnership.

For Diamond Eagles, Morne Van Wyk opened the batting with Rilee Rossouw. If they had any hope to make it to the semis, it would be only by big hitting. Both made a threatening start to the innings by reaching a total of 54 in just 3.4 overs. Rilee played a hopeful innings of 44 off 19 deliveries with five fours and three sixes. Morne Van Wyk supported him well by scoring 25 off 14 deliveries which included 3 fours in a row off Sherwin Ganga, who also claimed his wicket.

The rest of the Eagles batting line up continued fighting a losing battle and in the end managed to put up a highly respectable score of 189. Du Preez and skipper Dippennar scored 35 and 33 each, but Dippennar played a much quicker innings than Du Preez. For T&T Pollard and Sherwin Ganga claimed 2 wickets each conceding 25 runs each.

Trinidad and Tobago emerged as an indefatigable team in this electrifying game.

Brief scores: Trinidad and Tobago 213 for 4 (Barath 63, Simmons 40) defeated Eagles 189 for five (Rilee Rossouw 44, Du Preez 35) by 24 runs

Player of the match: Adrian Barath of Trinidad and Tobago

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