PROVIDENCE – Jamaica were crowned Regional Super50 kings yesterday, after an unbroken 45-run stand between Tamar Lambert and Shawn Findlay ushered them to a five-wicket victory over Trinidad and Tobago.
Lambert was not out on the top score of 30 and Findlay was not out on 25, as Jamaica successfully chased a modest 119 for victory in the low-scoring Final under the lights at the Guyana National Stadium.
Findlay formalized the result with 86 balls remaining, when he drove off-spinner Sherwin Ganga through wide mid-off for the last of his four boundaries.
The result meant that Jamaica claimed their first RS50 title in four years, claiming the Clive Lloyd Trophy named in honour of the former Guyana and West Indies captain, now West Indies Cricket Board director.
“I told Lindel Wright [president of the Jamaica Cricket Association] that I would bring back home the trophy and we have got the job done, and hopefully we can improve from now in limited-overs cricket,” said Jamaica captain and talismanic West Indies batsman Chris Gayle.
Stingy bowling from left-arm spinner Nikita Miller helped them dismiss Trinidad & Tobago for 118 in 46.1 overs on a hard, true pitch under bright, sunny skies.
Miller put Jamaica in control, when he grabbed three wickets for 19 runs from his allotment of 12 overs to earn the Man of the Match award.
“We came under some pressure in our semi-final and we decided that we wanted to go all out and do our best and make sure that we came out on top,” said Miller.
Jason Mohammed continued to lead the Trinidad and Tobago batting, hitting the top score of 32. He finished as the tournament’s leading batsman with 227 runs at an average of 56.75 and earned the Most Valuable Player award.
But no other batsman reached 20 after the Red Force decided to bat and they were always going to struggle to defend a modest target.
“We simply did not put enough runs on the board and we have been struggling a lot in these conditions because the pitches have been very slow and low,” said Trinidad and Tobago captain Daren Ganga.
The Jamaicans stumbled to 24 for two at the interval with Gayle not out on nine and Danza Hyatt not on one.
Opener Kennar Lewis was lbw to the second ball of the innings to give Sunil Narine a tournament-leading 15th wicket.
Xavier Marshall boosted Trinidad and Tobago’s confidence, when he too, was trapped lbw to Ganga in the fourth over, leaving Jamaica 14 for two.
After the interval, Jamaica continued to wobble, when Gayle was lbw to Samuel Badree for 12 in the 14th over and Odean Brown was caught inside the long-on boundary for six, leaving Jamaica 42 for four in the 16th over.
Lambert joined Hyatt and they stemmed the fall of wickets for Jamaica with a stand of 35 for the fifth wicket, but Trinidad and Tobago still sensed they could pull off an upset, particularly with their spinner in control.
Hyatt was lbw to Rayad Emrit for 29 in the 30th over, but Shawn Findlay entered and batted with typical enterprise, flicking the same bowler for four through mid-wicket to get off the mark.
He brought the urgency that was surprisingly lacking from the Jamaica batsmen and hastened them to the finish line in tandem with Lambert.
Earlier, Andre Russell stepped up in the face of unusually wayward bowling from Krishmar Santokie, when he removed opener Justin Guillen for eight and William Perkins for seven, leaving T&T 21 for two in the eighth over.
Miller bowled Dwayne Bravo for one with a unplayable ball that turned and knocked out the off stump, and then trapped T&T captain Daren Ganga lbw for seven, leaving the Red Force giddy on 30 for four.
Jason Mohammed joined Sherwin Ganga at the crease and put on 44 for the fifth wicket to stem the fall of wickets.
Gayle, bowling his uncomplicated off spin, made the breakthrough however, when he trapped Ganga lbw for 19, leaving T&T 74 for five – and they never fully recovered although they limped over the 100-run threshold.
Russell ended with two for 10 from seven overs, Gayle snatched two for 31 from 10 overs, and Brown bagged two for 34 from 11.1 overs. (CMC)