Trinidad and Tobago crush Leewards by nine wickets

Nov 15, 2008 Sports

-Pollard claims this year’s first hat-trick

Man-of-the-Match Lendl Simmons of Trinidad and Tobago receives his trophy from Guyana Cricket Board President Chetram Singh yesterday.

By Rawle Welch
Lendl Simmons (112*) blasted a delightful unbeaten century to steer Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) to a comfortable nine wickets victory over the Leeward Islands in their West Indies Regional One-Day Competition yesterday, at the GCC ground.

Set a victory target of 220 after dismissing the opposition for 219 in 42.5 of the stipulated 43 overs, T&T reached 221-1 when Simmons smashed slow medium Gavin Tonge straight into the Media Box at the northern end of the ground to end the misery for the Islanders.

Simmons cracked 10 fours and 4 sixes in a brutal display with the bat, while Captain Daren Ganga, who hit 3 fours and a solitary maximum in 25, stayed with him until the end.

Fellow opener Adrian Barath with whom he shared a first wicket partnership of 156 with, contributed 76 before throwing his wicket away attempting one big shot too many and held out to Wilden Cornwall at long -on off Tonito Willett’s bowling.

The two openers initiated a ferocious attack on the Leewards bowlers posting the 100 partnership in 18 overs through some explosive batting, especially from Barath, who hit Willett for six over square leg and brought up his half century with a tickle to third man for a single.

It came off 55 balls and contained 3 fours and 2 sixes, while Simmons achieved his off the next delivery with a similar stroke, also for a single. He took 64 balls to attain the landmark and hit the boundary five times.

They entertained the small band of spectators with a wide array of shots pulling, cutting and driving with pure class.

One that stood out was a majestic cover drive by Simmons off Tonge that raced across the outfield and crashed into the fence.

No bowler was spared and even when former West Indies off-spinner Omari Banks came on he too was treated with disdain as Simmons lofted him to the extra cover boundary and followed that up with a spotless square drive for four.

Earlier, morning showers delayed the start of play by one hour and a short drizzle shortly after the match commenced caused another interruption which forced the umpires to reduce the overs to 43 instead of the usual 50.

The Leewards top order batsmen all got good starts, but none of them went on to make a significant score and at one time were cruising at 204-4, before Keiron Pollard struck, removing Cornwall, Devon Thomas and Justin Athanaze with three consecutive deliveries to claim the first hat-trick of this year’s tournament.

He had Cornwall and Thomas caught by Samuel Badree at long-on and then produced a peach of a delivery to send back Athanaze, shattering his stumps.

They lost their last six wickets for a mere 15 runs in a poor batting display. Banks stroked 5 fours and belted a solitary six off 53 balls to register the top score, while Cornwall (46), Keiron Powell (30), all made useful contributions.

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