POWELL
CASTRIES, St. Lucia (CMC):
AN 87-RUN, second-wicket partnership between Rayad Emrit and Ricardo Powell steered Trinidad and Tobago to a seven-wicket win over St. Lucia in the second of two Twenty20 practice matches at the Beause-jour Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Emrit, who opened the batting for his team, smashed seven fours and one six in an unbeaten 54 off 50 balls, while Powell stroked 48 with four fours and one six, as T&T reached 116 for three off 13.5 overs in reply to St. Lucia's 115 all out in 19.4 overs.
Left-handed Gairy Mathurin, who captained St. Lucia in the absence of West Indies 'A' team all-rounder Darren Sammy, topscored with 34 after St. Lucia won the toss and decided to bat first.
Sheldon Thorpe contributed 15, Alton Crafton 14 and Craig Emmanuel 11. There were four run-outs in the St. Lucia innings.
Off-spinner Nicholas Ramjass bagged three for eight in four overs, while Samuel Badree and Emrit, who also opened the bowling, took two for 14 and two for 15, respectively.
Sunday's match was played in the afternoon sunlight at Beausejour to allow the Trini-dadians to return home in the evening, while Saturday's encounter was played under floodlights.
Trinidad and Tobago are due to play their first match in the Stanford Twenty/20 series against the Cayman Islands under lights at the Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua on July 25, while St. Lucia will meet host country, Antigua and Barbuda, on July 19.
