Trinidad & Tobago going to the Champions League
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mikesiva
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T&T have qualified for the Champions League....
Hampshire did the Trinidadians a big favour when they edged the Windwards in the other semi. That made the second semi the playoff for the berth in the CL, and the unbeaten former champions crushed Jamaica by eight wickets with more than two overs to spare.
The Jamaicans struggled to 136, thanks mainly to a swashbuckling 36 from allrounder Andre Russell off just 17 balls, but the rest of the batting was choked by good bowling from spinners Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine and Sherwin Ganga, and pacer Ravi Rampaul. Then, the Trini batting hammered Jamaica's much-vaunted pace attack to all parts of the ground, Lendl Simmons hitting a run-a-ball 51, ably supported by good knocks from Adrian Barath and Darren Bravo.
That makes the final a bit redundant, unfortunately. Both Trinidad and Hants deserve to be there, having played arguably the best 20/20 cricket between them during this tournament. Hants showed that they could reach a 20/20 final on foreign soil, while Trinidad achieved their objective of making it into the Champions League once more. Both teams coped without their main players, Trinidad missing star players Kieron Pollard and dwayne Bravo, who're currently playing Big Bash cricket in Australia, and both teams recovered from early hiccups against minnows Canada to dominate the rest of the opposition.
The preliminary round match between these two teams was the only one that was washed out, and hopefully this will be put right tonight. And hopefully we can get a good game, since the pressure will be off both teams. The loser can still go away from this match with their head held high.
Hampshire did the Trinidadians a big favour when they edged the Windwards in the other semi. That made the second semi the playoff for the berth in the CL, and the unbeaten former champions crushed Jamaica by eight wickets with more than two overs to spare.
The Jamaicans struggled to 136, thanks mainly to a swashbuckling 36 from allrounder Andre Russell off just 17 balls, but the rest of the batting was choked by good bowling from spinners Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine and Sherwin Ganga, and pacer Ravi Rampaul. Then, the Trini batting hammered Jamaica's much-vaunted pace attack to all parts of the ground, Lendl Simmons hitting a run-a-ball 51, ably supported by good knocks from Adrian Barath and Darren Bravo.
That makes the final a bit redundant, unfortunately. Both Trinidad and Hants deserve to be there, having played arguably the best 20/20 cricket between them during this tournament. Hants showed that they could reach a 20/20 final on foreign soil, while Trinidad achieved their objective of making it into the Champions League once more. Both teams coped without their main players, Trinidad missing star players Kieron Pollard and dwayne Bravo, who're currently playing Big Bash cricket in Australia, and both teams recovered from early hiccups against minnows Canada to dominate the rest of the opposition.
The preliminary round match between these two teams was the only one that was washed out, and hopefully this will be put right tonight. And hopefully we can get a good game, since the pressure will be off both teams. The loser can still go away from this match with their head held high.