Lara, Ramnarine hurry TT to victory

ST ELIZABETH: West Indies captain Brian Lara lashed an unbeaten 48 and leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine grabbed five wickets as Trinidad and Tobago handed amateurs Canada their second humiliating defeat in the Red Stripe Bowl Zone “A” on at the Alpart Sports Club yesterday. Canada, tormented by Ramnarine, could only muster 112 from 36.2 overs, before Lara flattened them with his near half century knock that rushed Trinidad and Tobago to 113 for four off 21.3 overs. Lara showed some respect at the beginning, but then hurriedly ended proceedings, slamming four sixes and two fours in his entertaining knock which satisfied the fair-sized crowd that more than anything else came to see the world’s number one batsman perform. Canada, beaten by 127 runs on Thursday by the Windwards, surprisingly opted to bat first on a pitch which offered good bounce but allowed the odd ball to skate through low. They paid the penalty and struggled to barely get past 100.
  
The North Americans suffered from the very first ball when pacer Merv Dillon got an LBW verdict against the debutant Aftab Shamshudeen, who elected not to play a shot to a fairly harmless loosener. Two wickets followed quickly and as was the case against Windward Islands, Sunil Dhaniram (11) and Ashish Bagai (14) stuck around, blocking the balls without putting many on the board. Left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed enticed a sweep from Dhaniram and wicketkeeper Andy Jackson took down the ballooned shot with ease. Then Ramnarine came into the attack and made a mockery of the Canadian batting, taking five wickets in quick time for just 24 runs from 8.2 overs. Austin Codrington, batting at number nine, played some lusty shots to finish on 21 not out, but it was extras that top-scored with 23. The Canadian innings was over so quickly that Trinidad had to bat for thirty minutes before lunch. Jackson  made a brisk 34, before playing an ugly cross-batted shot to medium pacer Don Maxwell and had his off stump uprooted in dramatic style, but not before he sent the crowd buzzing with one six and five imposing fours in his 22 ball innings.