A century from Nicholas Pooran and half-centuries from Amir Jangoo and Darren Bravo led Trinidad and Tobago Red Force to a thrilling 10-run victory over the Barbados Pride in the first semi-final of the GC Insurance Super50 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Wednesday.
Pooran hit five fours and eight sixes in his 111 that came from just 82 balls and was instrumental in getting the Red Force to 312-6, the highest score in the competition this season.
Chasing 313 for victory, Barbados were restricted to 302-8 despite an incredibly valiant 130 not out from 79 balls by Roshon Primus, his highest List A score.
The Pride were in early trouble at 13-2 in the fourth over after Shannon Gabriel had Zachary McCaskie caught at slip for one before returning to bowl Kyle Hope for four. The Pride slipped into further trouble at 45-3 when Sunil Narine had Shai Hope caught behind for 24.
Johnathan Carter and Nicholas Kirton got Barbados back on track with a 63-run partnership that got them to 108 when Shannon Gabriel picked up his third wicket, having Carter caught at deep backward point by Jason Mohammed for 45.
Kirton did not last much longer.
Fourteen balls and 10 runs later, he was caught by Narine off the bowling of Yanick Cariah for 35 leaving Barbados sinking fast at 118-5, still 195 runs behind.
When Shamar Springer was trapped lbw by Imran Khan for five, all seemed lost for Barbados, who at this point were 146-6.
However, Roshon Primus and Akeem Jordan were not ready to give up. Together they put together a run-a-ball 93 runs for the seventh wicket before things unraveled for Barbados for the final time. Jordan was run out off the first ball of Gabriel's eighth over for 33. Gabriel then picked up his fourth wicket next ball when he bowled Jomel Warrican for a duck and suddenly Barbados, who were 239-6 had slipped to 239-8.
Primus continued to resist. Consecutive sixes and a boundary in the 45th over bowled by Terrance Hinds brought Primus his maiden List A century from just 61 balls.
With 17 needed from the final over being bowled by Shannon Gabriel, Primus hit the first ball for four but three dot balls followed, meaning Barbados needed 13 from two deliveries. Primus took two from the fifth and the match was over. Primus' unbeaten knock included 10 fours and nine sixes and with Camarie Boyce (13 not), he put on 63 for the ninth wicket but it was simply not enough.
Shannon Gabriel was the best of the Red Force bowlers finishing with 4-43.
Batting first, T&T Red Force were in early trouble losing two wickets inside three overs after Akeem Jordan dismissed Kjorn Ottley for one and Jason Mohammed for a duck with consecutive deliveries. The early dismissals brought Jangoo and Bravo together and they put on 92 for the third wicket before Bravo was caught at fine leg by Jomel Warrican off the bowling of Springer for 54 in the 24th over.
His dismissal brought Pooran to the crease and he immediately went after the bowling playing some injudicious shots and was fortunate not be dismissed early on. However, as he settled into his innings, he pummeled the bowling racing to 50 in just 41 balls. He put on 147 with Jangoo before the latter was caught by Jordan off Springer for 81 in the 44th over. Pooran was eventually dismissed in the 46th trying to hit Springer for six.
With the score 256-5, 300 looked on the cards and the Red Force duly obliged thanks to a sparkling cameo from Akeal Hosein who smashed 42 from just 20 deliveries. He hit three fours and three sixes in a 53-run sixth-wicket stand with Terrance Hinds before he was caught by Jordan off Springer in the final over.
Hinds was not out on nine and Sunil Narine on two at the end.
Springer finished with 4-64 from nine overs while Jordan returned figures of 2-31 from his allotment of 10 overs.
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Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
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