Windwards crush TT by 86 runs

After the spin duo of Dave Mohammed (five for 46) and Amit Jaggernauth (three for 30) combined to dismiss the Windward Islands for 118, the hosts, going in pursuit of 175 were skittled out for 88.

Deighton Butler, adjudged "Man-of-the-Match" by ex-national opener Clint Yorke, collected three wickets while Darren Sammy, captain Rawl Lewis and Denis George copped two apiece.

Captain Daren Ganga, Rayad Emrit and Mohammed were the only batsmen to reach double-figures, with 37, 15 and 13 not out respectively, as the homesters posted their seventh lowest score in regional cricket.

Complacency and indiscipline crept into their performances as they were out-bowled, out-batted and out-planned by the islanders.

It was an alarming batting display from a team that needed full points to keep pace with Barbados in the race for the Carib Beer Cup.

With Barbados crushing the Leeward Islands in St Thomas, it means that Trinidad and Tobago must earn full points in their rescheduled match against Barbados, starting on Thursday, to have any hope of claiming the title.

Opener Lendl Simmons, who had a terrible match, fell to a dreadful leg-before decision by veteran umpire Clyde Duncan in the first ball of the innings. It was clear to the naked eye that the delivery from left-arm pacer Butler would have easily gone over the stumps.

Tishan Maraj, Gregory Mahabir and Dwayne Bravo, who have all made little contributions with the bat, all fell in quick succession after lunch.

Maraj (seven) and Mahabir (duck) were both caught behind by evergreen wicket-keeper off Sammy and Butler respectively while Bravo (two), as is the norm, was caught whipping a ball from Butler to Hyron Shallow at midwicket.

The procession continued during the lunch-tea session, with Denesh Ramdin having the indignity of being run out without facing a ball when Ganga called for a single to George at backward point and Murray collected the return and whipped off the stumps, with Ramdin short of his ground.

Ganga’s younger brother Sherwin, another batsman devoid of form and confidence, lingered for a half-hour without scoring before dragging a Sammy delivery onto his stumps while Richard Kelly stayed a similar length of time for no run before attempting a typical big hit, off a Lewis’ leg-break, and lost his middle stump.

Daren Ganga and Emrit then forged an eighth-wicket stand of 29 before the captain, after three hours of defiance, swept Lewis straight to substite Alvin La Fuille at the square leg fence. Left-arm spinner George ended TT’s misery with the scalps of Emrit, caught behind attempting a heave over the covers, and Jaggernauth (four), to a straightforward catch by Hyron Shallow at silly mid-on.

The pair of Mohammed and Jaggernauth destroyed the lower half of the Windwards batting, as the visitors lost their last five wickets for 35 runs.

Sammy was tempted by a flighted ball from Jaggernauth but he missed everything and was easily stumped by wicket-keeper Ramdin for 19 while nightwatchman Peters (14) could not cope against Mohammed’s variations and presented the left-arm spinner with a simple return catch.

Dissimilar to their efforts on the previous two days, the Trinidad and Tobago’s out-cricket was commendable, especially Jaggernauth, who spilled a couple of caught-and-bowled chances on Saturday.

Yesterday, the off-spinner, who bowled a marathon spell of 16-4-24-2, moved smartly to his left to snatch a miscued on-drive from Lewis for five while, as he did in the first innings, Mohammed removed the final two batsmen.

Liam Sebastien presented Ramdin with an easy catch for 12 while another left-hander, George, justified his number 11 spot in the order with a wild swing to Maraj at midwicket for four.