Cayman Islands opening batsman Keniel Irving is bowled by Trinidad and Tobago's seamer Reyad Emrit (out of picture) for one during their Stanford Twenty20 cricket match at the Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua on Tuesday night. Trinidad and Tobago won by eight wickets. - Contributed
ST. JOHN'S, Antigua (CMC):
Trinidad and Tobago were brilliant in all departments as they recorded a comfortable eight-wicket win over Cayman Islands in the Stanford 20/20 Tournament on Tuesday night.
Cayman fell for 92 in 19.2 overs after winning the toss and batting and Trinidad and Tobago then showed their might by racing to 93 for two off 10.4 overs.
It was the first match for Trinidad and Tobago in the tournament and they showed their readiness to push for the US$1 million top prize. They will now face Barbados in the third quarter-final tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.
Clever Bowling
The Caymanians never got going and this was mainly due to clever bowling by the Trinida-dians. In addition, captain Daren Ganga came to the match with his thinking cap on, making clever bowling changes and smart fielding switches that strangled the Cayman side.
This resulted in three run-outs - the best of which came from the rocket arm of Merv Dillon to send back Javon Linton in the 15th over. It earned Dillon the Play-of-the-Match award of US$10,000.
Dillon sprinted in from the long-leg boundary picked up the ball at deep mid-wicket and in one motion threw down the stumps at the non-striker's end as the batsmen attempted a quick second run.
There were three other run-outs as the Cayman Islands run rate never got above five runs per over.
Badree, best bowler
Leg-spinner Samuel Badree, who opened the bowling with discarded West Indies pacer Dillon, was the best bowler, capturing three for six to walk away with the US$25,000 Player-of-the-Match award.
"We are very happy with the way we played," said Badree. "We're backing ourselves to win and we are looking forward to the challenge against Barbados on Friday."
Seamer Reyad Emrit, who picked up a wicket with his first ball, ended with two for 13.
Captain Steve Gordon, opening his side's batting, led the way with 16 while Saheed Moham-med and Kevin Bazil got 13 each as the Cayman batsmen struggled.
In reply, Trinidad and Tobago batsmen set the field on fire with some forceful strokeplay. William Perkins, the 19-year-old opener played some textbook drives in his 53 off 27 balls which included nine fours and a towering six over mid-wicket.
He put on 70 in 44 balls with opening partner Mario Belcon who chipped in with a run-a-ball 26.
