TT tottering on brink of defeat

Trinidad and Tobago are facing defeat against Barbados at the close of  play on the third day of their Carib Beer Series regional cricket clash yesterday at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre.

SCORES: Barbados 285 & 372 vs TT 260 & 60/4. Set a daunting victory target of 393 runs with a minimum 108 overs, Trinidad and Tobago limped to 60 for four at the close. Their main hope of getting the huge victory target was centered around West Indies captain Brian Lara but the left-hander was dismissed by Fidel Edwards for 14 just before the close. The first wicket to fall for TT was left hander Sherwin Ganga who was caught behind for a duck off Pedro Collins. West Indies pacer Corey Collymore also got into the action and sent back first innings centurion Ricardo Powell (6) and Aneil Kanhai (9), as the home team slipped to 33 for three. Lara joined skipper Daren Ganga and the two added 17 runs for the fourth wicket before Lara tried to pull Edwards and was caught at mid-on for 14 by Pedro Collins.

At the close skipper Ganga was battling on 16 not out and Gibran Mohammed was undefeated on three. Earlier, Barbados resuming on the overnight position of 138 for three, pushed along their score to bat their opponents out of the match. The overnight pair of Kurt Wilkinson and Ryan Hinds carried the score to 204 with some robust hitting. Wilkinson was the first to go, falling to Dave Mohammed for a well-compiled 82 runs made in 232 minutes off 148 balls with 11 fours. Hinds and Dwayne Smith then took the score along to 238 before Hinds fell to Aneil Kanhai for 83. The left-hander, a strong contender for the “Man-of-the-Match” award faced 164 balls in 187 minutes and struck 11 boundaries. Smith followed him soon after for 40, bowled by Dave Mohammed and it took a 32-run seventh wicket partnership between skipper Courtney Browne and Tino Best to stop the locals from restricting the visitors.

Best finally fell with the score at 293 to let in Pedro Collins. Browne in the meantime was playing confidently just as he did in the first innings when he scored 98. He lost Collins at 337 with his tally on nine. Browne himself followed for 82 caught off the bowling of Aneil Kanhai for a well-played 82 that contained 11 fours off 118 balls. Soon after the innings ended with the score at 372, setting Trinidad and Tobago a victory target of 393 runs. The best of the local bowlers was Dave Mohammed with three for 93. Today skipper Ganga will hope that his remaining batsmen can carry on and least get a draw as defeat will put Trinidad and Tobago out of the competition.