Tue, 20 Sep 2011 - IP Leicestershire vs IP T&T, Champions T20 League 2011, 3rd Qualifier - Bulletin

Trinidad and Tobago qualify with huge win

Trinidad and Tobago became first team to among the qualifiers to make it to the main draw of the champions league as Caribbean side handed over a 51-run crushing defeat to English twenty-20 cup champions Leicestershire. The English side never looked to get anywhere near a stiff target of 169 on a slow and gripping Hyderabad surface.

After T&T openers Adrian Barath and Lendl Simmons gave their side rollicking yet big start to power their side to 168, experienced pacer Ravi Rampaul and spinners punctured Leicestershire’s chase by taking wickets upfront. Rampaul proved to be the star performer with the ball taking four for 14 in his 14 and leg spinner Samuel Badree’s four over allotment produced only seven runs and also two dismissals. Only substantial piece of resistance came from talented James Taylor who hit unbeaten 56 to give some respectability to the score board.

The English side had a terrible start to the chase losing half of their batsmen for just 2o inside first six overs. Badree got one through Andrew McDonald to have him bowled for duck and Rampaul had Josh Cobb caught in the deep to have Leic’s openers back in the hit cheaply.

It turned out to be nightmarish experience when Wayne White was castled by Rampaul followed by dismissal of Will Jefferson by Badree. Off spinner Sunil Narine added to Leic’s woes having Paul Nixon caught plumb infront for duck with scoreboard giving a grim reading at 21.

Abdur Razzaq and Taylor did some rearguard with 47 run stand but creeping required run rate forced Pakistan all-rounder to play big shots. He succumbed to Kevon Cooper and with his departure Leic’s hopes ended. Taylor though kept fight going but he had a mountain to climb as Leic’s ended the innings with 117/9 in 20th over. The final over saw Rampaul castling Clive Henderson and skipper Mathew Hoggard on successive but failed to get hat-trick. Taylor 56 came from 47 balls with four fours and a couple of sixes.

T&T’s batting effort mainly revolved round their openers with Leic’s bowlers unable to separate the pair till 18th over. It was contrasting styles of batting exhibiting by two right handers during the stand that produced 139. Simmons was more concerned about muscling every other ball while diminutive Barath played some proper and orthodox cricket to punish the bowlers.

Simmons’ 67 came off 58 balls including seven fours and Barath hit half a dozen fours and two sixes in his 47-ball 62. Both openers departed at the score of 139 off consecutive deliveries off Harry Gurney in the 18th over.

Darren Bravo and Dinesh Ramdin played nice little cameos in the end to surge total past 160. Bravo’s nine ball stay yielded 18 thanks to couple of bug sixes and Ramdin score 11 off seven.