Bridgetown, Barbados – Jan. 24, 2011 -- Trinidad & Tobago are
Caribbean Twenty20 2011 champions. They played like champions and
comprehensively disposed of the best English Twenty20 side – Hampshire
Royals by 36 runs.
Hampshire faltered and fumbled to 111 for 8 as the Trinis applied the bowling vice on their run chase.
Star of the Match Darren Bravo hit a bazooka 41 from 28 balls to
lead the Trinis to 147 for 7 from 20 overs as they got off to a
blistering start, racing to 79 in the 10th
over when the super-talented left hander got out to left arm spinner
Danny Briggs (4-0-9-2) whose frugal bowling led the Royals.
Bravo unleashed five exquisitely delightful fours and a pair of
sixes as he entertained the over 7000 Kensington Oval crowd with
delectable strokeplay.
After T&T slipped in the middle and found themselves short by the 18th
over, stand-in captain Denesh Ramdin rammed in 33 runs from 19 balls.
Ramdin took over from inspirational captain Daren Ganga who missed the
final with a split webbing on his left hand.
The Hampshire run chase was blunted from the inception when Ravi
Rampaul (4-1-25-) started with a maiden then Samuel Badree bowled power
hitter Johannes Myburgh for a second ball duck. After that the
Englishmen never really challenged as the Jason Mohammed (2.1-0-6-2)
provided a surprise spin package in collaboration with the unrelenting
spin-seam attack.
Benjamin Howell tried but it was mostly in vain, labouring to a top score of 28 from 31 balls with a pair of fours as the curtain was brought down on a high energy Caribbean Twenty20 with the Trinis leaping to victory after the improbable 42 runs from the last over was not even challenged.
T&T have now joined Guyana as the only regional Twenty20 double champions.
