Ganga ton powers T&T to finals berth
A round-up of the fourth day's play in the final round of Carib Beer Series matches
Cricinfo staff
09-Feb-2007
An unbeaten 104 by West Indies batsman Daren Ganga steered Trinidad &Tobago to a comfortable six-wicket victory against Jamaica on the final day at St Elizabeth on Thursday. T&T eased to the target of 320 after the openers Adrian Barath and Lendl Simmons laid the foundation on the third day with a stand of 56. On the final day, it was the series of productive partnerships which sealed the win for T&T.
Simmons was the first to go, with the score on 72, bowled by Jerome Taylor, but the most fruitful stand was the 95 for the third wicket between Ganga and Jason Mohammed. Mohammed scored a patient 43 off 124 balls before flicking Lawson to Wavell Hinds at mid-on. Ganga meanwhile played carefully and shared another useful stand of 72 with Kieron Pollard. Denesh Ramdin added a further 51 with Ganga as the visitors cruised to the target. Ganga faced 259 balls in his knock and struck 10 fours.
T&T will now meet Barbados in the Carib Challenge final - the one-off clash between the two top sides in the Carib Beer Series - on February 22 . Barbados lifted the regional title yesterday after their five-wicket win against Guyana.
Rawl Lewis saved the day for Windward Islands on the final day at St Maarten
with a defiant 71 against Leeward Islands. Lewis's second half century of the match rescued his side from certain defeat in pursuit of 293 as they finished at 171 for 8 in a rain-shortened day.
Wet conditions delayed the start of play and Leewards, resuming at 165 for 6 in their second innings, lost their last four wickets for 37 runs. Liam Sebastien, the offspinner finished with 5 for 47 in 21 overs. Windwards stumbled in their chase and were at 64 for 6 at tea before Lewis and Gary Mathurin led the recovery with a 62-run stand. Omari Banks, the offspinner, got the breakthrough when Mathurin was caught at forward short-leg for 18 and he later accounted for Lewis. His 92-ball knock included 12 fours.
However, Deighton Butler defied the attack for over an hour with a dogged unbeaten five and he was joined by Kenroy Peters, who batted for 45 minutes to finish with an unbeaten 23 before play was finally called off.
Leewards picked up 15 points and finished at fifth place, while Windwards finished with 10 points.