Tony Becca THE WEST Indies first-class season is over and, for those who missed it, Trinidad and Tobago won the Carib Beer Challenge Trophy and the KFC Cup. In doing so, after finishing second to winners Barbados in the race for the Carib Beer Cup, that, in any language, was a wonderful performance.
With the World Cup at hand, however, with all the talk about Australia's decline, the West Indies' chances and who will win it, Trinidad and Tobago's lovely performance, unfortunately and everywhere except in the twin-island republic itself, has almost been forgotten.
After losing their first match in the four-day Carib Beer Series against Barbados, after having to settle for a draw in a rain-ruined match against Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago recovered nicely. They won their last three matches an it was not enough to win the Cup, it was enough for them to earn a place in the Challenge Trophy final where they picked off Barbados and won by 49 runs.
In the one-day limited-overs KFC Cup, it was a completely different story as they went from wire to wire, winning all five matches in the pre-liminary round before going into the semi-finals where they knocked out Guy-ana, and then into the final where they stopped the ambitious Windward Islands in their tracks.
Impressive performance
Two from three was great, but what was really impressive about the Trinidadians and the Tobagonians was the manner in which they achieved their success - the number of times they demonstrated not only their skill with bat and ball but also the will to fight on, to battle on despite the odds against them.
In their first four-day match, for example, Trinidad and Tobago were stumbling at 81 for six against Barbados when 19-year-old Kieron Pollard, playing in his first match, joined the action at 48 for three in his first innings, an they lost the match after gaining first innings lead, blasted seven sixes and 11 fours while scoring 126 off 150 deliveries.
Against Jamaica, in their final match of the preliminary round, Trinidad and Tobago had to win to qualify for the Challenge Trophy final, and thanks to captain Daren Ganga who stroked a polished 104 not out, after trailing on first innings they recovered to win the match by three wickets.
And it was no different in the KFC Cup where, after scoring 209 in the final, with the Windward Islands on 82 without loss and then on 157 for four, they were on the run before storming to victory by five runs.
Impressive youngsters
Another impressive thing about the Trinidadians of 2007 was the number of youngsters they paraded during the season - youngsters at that, who all performed. Pollard struck six sixes and one four while scoring 69 against Guyana in his second match, smashed six sixes and 11 fours while scoring 117 off 87 deliveries against the Leeward Is-lands in his third match, and blas-ted seven sixes and six fours while scoring 87 against Guyana in the KFC Cup.
There was another successful youngster in Adrian Barath, the 16-year-old opening batsman who, in his first first-class match, scored 73 against Guyana, followed that up with 131 off 139 deliveries with 16 fours against the Leeward Islands in his second match, and then followed that up with 101 against the Windward Islands in his third match.
And in what looks great for the future of West Indies cricket, there were many other youngsters in Trini-dad and Tobago's winning team.
In the best team in the region for certainly the past two seasons, fast bowler Mervyn Dillon at age 32 is like a grandfather, and captain Ganga, at 28, and Dave Mohammed, 27, are like uncles.
World Cup or no World Cup, look at the following and then give a prolonged round of applause to the Carib Beer Challenge Trophy and the KFC Cup champions of the West Indies.
Rayad Emrit - 25, Sherwin Ganga - 24, Sanjiv Gooljar - 24, Dwayne Bravo - 23, Gibran Mohammed - 23, Amit Jaggernauth - 23, Richard Kelly - 22, Ravi Rampaul - 22, Lendl Simmons - 22, Denesh Ramdin - 21, Jason Mohammed - 20, William Perkin - 20, Pollard - 19, Daren Bravo - 17 and Barath - 16.
