Pooran, Emrit lead TT Red Force to 76-run win

COLIN BENJAMIN

NICHOLAS Pooran’s highest List A score and brilliant spell of seam bowling from Rayad Emrit were the cornerstones behind TT Red Force’s 76-run win in their opening game of the CWI Regional Super50 2018 against defending champions, Windward Islands Volcanoes at the Queen’s Park Oval, St Clair, on Wednesday evening.

Winning the toss in a rain-affected encounter, that commenced at 5 pm and was reduced to 37 overs, the Volcanoes sent the Red Force in to bat and they posted 220/8.

Pooran top scored with 89 (61 balls, seven sixes and six fours), which was his first half-century, in his 13th match at this level.

“Today was all about taking my opportunity, I was keen to build on my CPL performances in this tournament and get big scores and today (Wednesday) it panned out well”, said the 23-year-old Pooran.

“The score was around 40/5 when I came in to bat and it was all about me batting the situation. Batting with Bravo was a great help, he told me not to watch the score, just bat on instinct and don’t premeditate.”

The left-handed Pooran was supported by Sunil Narine (34) and Dwayne Bravo (25). Barbados-born pacer Kyle Mayers was the main wicket-taker for the Volcanoes with 4/60 in his eight overs.

In reply, the Volcanoes never truly looked capable of chasing the total as they crawled to 145/8 when their allotted overs were completed.

Mayers’ (55) (72 balls, five fours and one six) unbeaten, was the lone substantial innings for the visitors and this all-round performance earned him the eventual man of the match award by the Super50 adjudicators. Emrit’s brilliant economical spell of 7-3-5-3 was the pick of the Red Force bowlers alongside Narine (8-1-26-2).

“This is obviously a great start, earlier this year (January 2018 Super50) Windwards stopped us from qualifying from group stage, so this is a bit of revenge for us – so now we just going into Friday’s game versus Guyana playing it as if it’s our last and hopefully we are successful”, said Pooran.

“Today (Wednesday) you saw our strength. We play as team knowing that on any day someone will put up their hands, that’s the beauty of this team playing together again.

“We play as a family and back ourselves to win games from any position.”

Darren Bravo did not play since he is recovering from a hamstring injury suffered while batting in last month’s CPL final.

Action commenced in the first innings with Lendl Simmons (11) getting the Red Force off to a perfect start, hitting left-arm quick Delorn Johnson for two boundaries in the opening over, before Johnson dismissed him in third over caught by Devon Smith at first slip.

Red Force then went into a mini collapse as Evin Lewis (11), captain Denesh Ramdin (two), Kieron Pollard (duck) and Barbados-born player Kyle Hope (25) were dismissed cheaply, leaving the hosts precariously placed at 67/5 in the 17th over.

The Red Force’s recovery was built on the back of the 43-run sixth wicket partnership between Pooran and Bravo.

Bravo would perish looking to up the ante, hitting a catch to long off via the bowling of young off-spinner Alick Athanaze before the crucial 79-run seventh wicket alliance with Narine that propelled them past the 200-mark.

Before the tournament, Windwards lost the services of experienced batting duo Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles, who departed for the Afghanistan Premier League T20 tournament in Dubai.

So the onus in chasing down the total was left on their two former West Indies top order players Devon Smith and Kirk Edwards.

However, the aforementioned Emrit dismissed both in the opening six overs with magnificently deliveries, destroying their stumps with sharply pitched in-swingers.

When wicket-keeper Dennis Smith was leg-before the leg-spinner Imran Khan, the Volcanoes looked as if they were not going to bat the 37 overs, with the score on 67/6 in the 19th over.

It was at this point Mayers and captain Shane Shillingford (29) delayed the cascade of wickets tumbling during a 72-run seventh wicket stand in 15 overs, before Shillingford became Emrit’s third victim of the day caught by Bravo on mid-on attempting a pull shot.

The game ended in a minor comical fashion when Kieron Pollard bowling off-spin for possibly the first time in a professional game, dismissed Delorn Johnson (1) with the final delivery of the game.