West Indies' Mervyn Dillon celebrates after he was given the LBW on Australia's Matthew Hayden during play on the first day of the second Test in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad April 19, 2003. Dillon took 2 wickets in play before lunch. - REUTERS
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO won their first regional first-class
title in 21 years, when they completed a comprehensive 264-run victory over
Barbados on the last day of their final preliminary match in the Carib Beer
Series yesterday.
T&T achieved victory about half-hour before lunch when Amit Jaggernauth held a low catch at third slip to dismiss Fidel Edwards for a duck, as Barbados chased a highly improbable, if not impossible target of 412 runs.
Barbados were dismissed for 147 in their second innings and conceded their heaviest defeat in the history of the modern regional first-class championship (1966 onwards).
Mervyn Dillon ended with five wickets for 36 runs from 21 overs to end with match figures of eight for 65 that earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.
Dave Mohammed supported Dillon with three for 45 from 20 overs.
TOP SCORE
Barbados captain Ryan Hinds' 32 the previous evening was his side's top score, Dale Richards made 31, Wayne Blackman gathered 25, Ian Bradshaw was not out on 24, and Floyd Reifer scored 23.
It was T&T's second straight win over the Barbadians in Barbados, following a 48-run victory last year at Crab Hill.
Both teams ended the Championship on 36 points, but T&T, under the guidelines of the playing conditions, claim the title based on head-to-head results.
There is a possibility of a three-way tie on points also involving Guyana, but T&T gained first innings points in a drawn match against them.
Barbados will finish second, despite the outcome of the match in Grenada between Guyana and hosts Windward Islands.
Play commenced half-hour earlier than scheduled to compensate for time lost on the previous day to rain.
T&T had to wait about that same time before claiming their first wicket of the day, after Barbados had continued from their bedtime position of 112 for six.
Experienced left-hander Floyd Reifer was adjudged lbw to Dillon for 23 coming forward to a well-pitched delivery, but a sharp shower about 10 minutes later raised Barbadian hopes that might have fulfilled a common saying on the island that "God is a Bajan!"
The rain break was shortlived, however, and about 10 minutes later, the umpires were erecting the stumps again.
Just when Ryan Austin looked set to play the same kind of innings he had in the first innings, Dillon bowled into his rib cage, and he fended the ball away to be caught at leg-slip for one.
In his next over, Dillon gained a palpable lbw decision to dismiss Ryan Nurse for a duck to leave Barbados 131 for nine.
Edwards came to the crease and the visitors thought they had him caught behind early in his innings, but he and Bradshaw frustrated them for three quarters-of-an-hour until Bravo's intervention that took the monkey off T&T's backs.
T&T last won the regional first-class championship in 1985 under former West Indies off-spin bowler Ranjie Nanan.
SCOREBOARD
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 1st Innings 259
BARBADOS 1st Innings 167
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 2nd Innings 319
BARBADOS 2nd Innings (target: 412 runs)
(overnight 112 for six)
D. Richards lbw b Dillon 31
W. Blackman lbw b Mohammed 25
K. Wilkinson c Kelly b Dillon 0
R. Hinds lbw b Mohammed 32
F. Reifer lbw b Dillon 23
A. Holder c (sub) S. Ganga b Mohammed 8
+P. Browne c wkpr Ramdin b J'nauth 0
I. Bradshaw not out 24
R. Austin c Simmons b Dillon 1
R. Nurse lbw b Dillon 0
F. Edwards c Jaggernauth b Bravo 0
Extras (b1, lb1, nb1) 3
TOTAL (all out) 147
Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-41, 3-86, 4-95, 5-105, 6-106, 7-129, 8-131, 9-131.
Bowling: Kelly 4-1-25-0; Dillon 21-10-36-5; Emrit 9-7-5-0; Bravo 7-1-26-1 (nb1); Mohammed 20-6-45-3; Jaggernauth 6-2-7-1; Khan 2-1-1-0.
Result: T&T won by 264 runs.
Umpires: E. Nicholls, T. Franklyn.
Man-of-the-Match: Mervyn Dillon (T&T).
