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Ganga, Bravo lead T&T to President’s Cup final

Nov 03, 2009 Sports

Barbados go down by 2 wickets

By Sean Devers
Skipper Daren Ganga led from the front with a responsible unbeaten 79 while Dwayne Bravo grabbed 6-46 to defending Champions Trinidad and Tobago to a hard fought 2-wicket win against Barbados at the Guyana National Stadium last evening in the first semi-final of the President’s Cup Regional One-Day cricket competition.
Bravo’s first 5-wicket haul and a 3-wicket haul (3-50) from pacer Ravi Rampaul (3-50) helped to dismiss Barbados for 229 in 49.5 overs as Martin Nurse (46), Skipper Ryan Hinds (44) and Kirk Edwards (41) all failed to build on good starts on a low and slow track.
Ganga then hit 3 fours from 105 balls in his Man-of-the-Match innings and got support from Lendl Simmons (44), Bravo (32), Denesh Ramdin (20) and Dave Mohamed (18*) as T&T reached 230-8 off 49.2 overs under lights to advance to their 13th final since losing to Barbados in the first 2 finals in 1976 and 1977.
On a day which the local weather forecast predicted showers, Barbados elected to bat in brilliant sunshine and a small crowd watched as Nurse and Edwards put together 85 in 20.4 overs for the first wicket before the 26-year-old Bravo trapped Nurse LBW. He hit 4 fours and 2 sixes from 63 balls.
Fifteen runs later Bravo removed Edwards who faced 74 balls and reached the boundary 2 times in his patient innings.
Alcindo Holder (23) hit Bravo to long-off at 136-3 before the recalled West Indies all-rounder dismissed Hinds and Carlo Morris (21) in two balls. Earlier, Rampaul had removed Jonathon Carter, who hit 2 fours and a six from 28 balls in a cameo 27 and Dwayne Smith (3) as Barbados, who last reached the final in 2005 when they lost Guyana at Bourda, slipped to 221-7.
Rampaul ensured Barbados lost 3 wickets with the score on 221 when he bowled Suleiman Benn for a duck while Bravo continued his demolition job by scattering the stumps of Kevin Stoute (2) as Barbados slumped to 229-9. Bravo finished the innings on his 2nd hat-trick by bowling Nikolai Charles for a first ball duck.
Under a clear evening sky, Adrian Barath (11) was run out at 42 in the 9th over of T&T’s reply before Daren Bravo (1) edged Smith to the Keeper a run later.
Simmons, who stroked Smith for a majestic cover driven boundary, then punched the medium pacer for another glorious four in the next over, before he was bowled by left-arm spinner Benn at 73-3. He hit 8 fours from 47 balls.
Dwayne Bravo, who hit 4 fours from 40 balls in his 32, added 54 with his level-headed Skipper before he drove leg-spinner Charles to extra cover as T&T slipped to 127-4.
When Kieron Pollard missed a big 20/20-like swing at Charles and was bowled for a duck at 131-5 T&T, hunting their 10 Regional One-Day title, were in trouble.
Ramdin joined his Skipper who intelligently worked the balls into gaps and the pair took the score to 165 before Ramdin’s impetuosity caused his demise when he cut Stoute straight to Benn at point after hitting the bowling for consecutive fours in the same are off the 2 previous deliveries.
Samuel Badree (3) edged a loose drive off Stoute and was caught behind while Sherwin Ganga (18) played across the line and was LBW to medium pacer Khalid Springer to T&T on 202-8 with 6 overs to go.
The 30-year-old Ganga, with 30 First-Class tons and 3 from 48 Tests, showed that he is not only an astute leader but a much better batsman than his Test and ODI average of just over 25 suggests and showed plenty of maturity and common sense as he batted with the tail to see his team home.
With 9 required from 12 balls, Mohamed (18*) clobbered Benn for a crucial six over long-on off the final ball of the penultimate over before a pushed single to mid-on off the 3rd ball of the final over sparked wild celebrations in the T&T camp as the team from Carnival country qualified for their 2nd major final in 2 weeks following their wonderful Champions League campaign in India.
Charles (2-37) and Stoute (2-36) were the most successful bowlers for Barbados.
The winner of the Guyana/CCC semi-final today at the same venue will face T&T in Thursday’s finale.

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