It’s Gayle versus Narine today at Providence

Oct 29, 2011 Sports

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As Jamaica battle T&T in Regional Super50 Final

By Sean Devers
While Trinidad and Tobago have been in every final except last year since Guyana won their last title in 2005,

Jamaica enter their 10th final and first since 2007 when they last won the title in Barbados as the teams face-off in the Regional Super 50 cricket final today under lights at Providence.
No team has more than T&T’s 10 titles and they emerged champions when the competition was last played in Guyana in 2008 and 2009 before missing out last year in Jamaica when Barbados and the Leewards played to a Tie in the final at Sabina Park.
Jamaica, hunting their sixth title, will depend heavily on star batsman Chris Gayle who is the only batsman to score a century and reach 200 runs in this year’s competition.
Only Brian Lara (5) has more than Gayle’s three tons at this level but big-hitting left-handed former West Indies Skipper has failed to reach 50 in 12 of the 14 Regional One-Day matches he has played on the slow and low Guyana pitches and his early demise in the semi-finals against Sagicor HPC again exposed how much his team depends on him for success.
Chasing a modest 177 to win, Jamaica barely scraped home off the penultimate ball with their last pair at the crease a day after T&T had beaten Guyana in their semi-final clash to set up today’s finale between arguably the two best teams in the eight-team tournament.
Jamaica’s main treat today could be 23-year-old Rookie off-spinner Sunil Narine, the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 wickets and a record two-five wickets hauls.
“We have not seen him much and he caused some problems when we last met…..he is different from the other off-spinners in the West Indies but we are confident of doing well in the final,” Gayle said of Narine, who has the Doosra, slider and a big turning off-break in his armory.
Narine took 5-37 at Everest and had Gayle controversially caught behind for a 31-ball 34 when T&T won their final preliminary match to book a place in the semis and could enter today’s Day/Night final with the physiological advantage.
Gayle is the most destructive opener in International cricket and has 19 ODI centuries. He is very experienced and keen to prove a point with his bat at a time when he continues to be embroiled in a bitter dispute with the WICB and if he cuts lose tonight, the fans could be treated to explosive fireworks.
However, Jamaica is not Gayle alone and T&T will know that if they can take him out early in conditions that better suite their style of cricket, Jamaica, whose last match against T&T at Providence ended in a 90-run defeat for them, could struggle.
Like Gayle, Kennar Lewis looks to feel ball on bat, while Xavier Marshall, Shawn Findlay and Jermaine Blackwood are all free scoring batsmen and the sluggish Providence track could not be ideal for their style of play.
A lot could depend on Tamar Lambert to hold the middle order together if wickets fall quickly and Andre Russell to accelerate at ‘the death’ on the large ground.
Like the Jamaicans, Williams Perkins is an attacker but his opening partner Justin Guilin’s 63 in the semis was well compiled and Jason Mohamed (only 11 runs behind Gayle’s 206) has been the competition’s most consistent batsman.
With the level-headed Daren Ganga, Dwayne Bravo, Sherwin Ganga, Kevin Cooper and Ryad Emrit all capable of contributing with the bat, T&T, the only team with a 400 total in the history of Regional One-Day cricket, is a dangerous force in Guyana’s conditions even in the absence of their West Indies players and the injured Keiron Pollard.
Narine has been the tournament’s best bowler, but left-arm pacer Krishmar Santokie has been the most impressive fast bowler and only Narine has more than his nine scalps. Today he and Russell will hope for early success with the new ball for left-arm spinner Nikita Miller and leg-spinner Odean Browne to build on for Jamaica.
Samuel Badree, Dave Mohamed and Sherwin Ganga should offer spin support to Narine and it will be interesting to see what effect the wet ball from the dew will have on the spinners in the second innings of the match.
Emrit, Cooper and Bravo are the medium pace options for T&T, who has beaten Jamaica 17 times and lost on 13 occasions in the 31 matches between the two sides at this level.
Tonight’s winner will collect US$10,000 and the Clive Lloyd Trophy while the runner-up takes home US$4,000 and the Man-of-the-Final US$250.
T&T has the advantage in their 14th final at this level but the eagerly anticipated battle between Gayle and Narine could decide the result of tonight’s contest which will be broadcast live around the region on Radio and ESPN TV.

The lack of an intensive promotional campaign similar to the one done for the last Jam Zone competition (when officials and the Captains appeared on various TV stations and tickets were given away during quiz segments) a less than full house is anticipated tonight, especially since Guyana is not involved.
Despite a few glitches in the preliminary rounds, including leaking covers and a book scorer’s problem, the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has done a good job as hosts.  Today they will hope that Gayle, the only ‘real’ crowd puller in what has been a tournament of ordinary batting, saves the day by filling the seats at Providence in the third Regional Day/Night Final at the region’s fastest drying International cricket venue.
Recently appointed ICC TV Umpire Guyanese Nigel Duguid who will stand in domestic matches in the UK during the 2012 season will stand in today’s final which starts at 13:30hrs. Barbadian Gregory Braithwaite is the other Umpire and admission is G$1,000.

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