Mon, 19 Sep 2011 - IP Ruhuna vs IP T&T, Champions T20 League 2011, 1st Qualifier match - Bulletin

T&T win CL qualifier opener

Trinidad and Tobago survived a stuttering start to the 139 run chase as Sherwin Ganga and Darren Bravo forged an unbeaten 63 run stand to take their side home in the first qualifier of the Champions League against the Sri Lankan side, Ruhuna by five wickets and seven balls to spare.

After restricting Ruhuna to 138, T&T had a bad start to their innings losing both their openers cheaply. An agile Chandimal ensured that an overzealous Barath was stumped trying to steal a run while the ball was in the keeper’s vicinity, the innings ran into rough weather when Simmons was caught at mid-off. Both the openers were dismissed off Janaka Gunaratne off spinners, the score sheet reading 6 for 2 after three overs.

T&T skipper, Darren Ganga hit a 10 ball 17 including two boundaries and six in one over but the 42-year old Sanath Jayasuriya trapped him in front with a faster one to peg back the West Indian side. Darren Bravo, coming in at no. 3, struggled to keep the score board ticking, thus adding pressure on Ramdin who miscued a hoick to be caught for run-a-ball 18. Ruhuna by now were well and truly on top as the asking rate spiraled to nine an over.

Like Ramdin, Jason Mohammad too could only get a start while as Bravo was still struggling for timing. To his credit the West Indies international did not throw it away and a hit that barely went over long-on got him going. He along with Sherwin Ganga launched a mini recovery as the match was heading to a close finfish, 36 were needed of 24 deliveries.

From hereon Ganga took charge, hitting two boundaries in the seventeenth over to narrow down the gap but the anti-climax came when Arosh Janoda conceded 18 runs in the 19th over. With 19 required in the last two overs, Ganga smashed a six and a four off the first two deliveries, a couple of no balls brought down the target to single figures and when he deposited the fifth ball into the long-on boundary, T&T had overhauled the target with five wickets. Bravo finished with an unbeaten 49-ball 44 and his younger partner impressed with 39 off just 15 balls.

Earlier, Ruhuna’s batting effort was marked with a solid third wicket partnership of 67 runs sandwiched between two batting collapses that saw them being bowled out for 138. Dinesh Chandimal who scored a fighting half-century combined with Gunaratne helped their side to some sort of respectability after it had lost three top order batsmen for 26 inside four overs. Ruhuna ended the innings on a sad note with four of its last batsmen failing to add anything to not. The Sri Lankan side witnessed as many as five run-outs including two at the top.

Trinidad and Tobago exhibited great athleticism in the field with their bowlers hitting the right areas and varying the pace ever so effectively. Fast bowlers Ravi Rampaul and Kevon Cooper proved to be stand out performers with the ball conceding only 34 runs in eight overs and claiming three scalps between them.

Ruhuna were dented early with Samuel Badree trapping dangerous Sanath Jayasuriya who hit two fours in his 11-ball 13. Things got from bad to worse with Mahela Udawatte and Milinda Siriwardana departing in quick succession to reduce Ruhuna 26 for three. Both were dismissed through run-outs.

It needed Chandimal and Gunaratne to mix their aggressive intent with some sensible approach to the batting. Chandimal, in particular, showed his immense talent dispatching two sixes and as many fours during his 38-ball stay to drive his team forward. Gunaratne was more than happy to pass on the strike to Chandimal and, to be fair to the all-rounder, T&T bowlers didn’t gave him too many bad balls to hit.

When Ruhuna were all set to go for a charge, Copper castled Gunaratne for 29-ball 20. And Chandimal departed soon after reaching his fifty when Rampaul pinged one short that the batsman top-edged for an easy caught and bowled. TM Sampath and Kushal Perera slammed more than run a ball cameo to provide some impetus to the total but wickets fell in clusters in last two overs that prevented them from getting anywhere close to 150 mark. Brother of Sri Lankan national team skipper, TM Dilshan Sampath played Dilshanesque innings hitting three fours in 23 off 13 while Sampath’s 15 came off six balls punctuated with a four and six.