Marlins sent back to Tobago in UWI T20

Preysal Cricket Club and Guyana's Malteenoes All-Stars advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2020 UWI-Unicom Twenty20 tournament after both teams thumped Tobago Marlins in Group B action on Friday.

The opening match at the Sir Frank Worrell Cricket Ground at UWI-SPEC saw Malteenoes hammer 209 for eight in their 20 overs thanks to Trevon Griffith's 53 and Jonathan Foo's 41, before Marlins were demolished for 127. After that 82-run loss, the Tobago outfit were skittled for a meagre 72 by Preysal with the South-based team then coasting to 73 for two in 7.5 overs to claim an eight-wicket victory.

With most of the Guyanese team arriving on Thursday, Malteenoes wasted no time in posting the tournament's top score.

Griffith, an experienced player on the regional T20 circuit, lit up the ground with a brisk half-century off 29 balls including five fours and three sixes. He initially struggled to find partners with Ancil Nedd (two for 32) removing Robin Bacchus for two and Kevon Savory for 13. Foo entered the wicket and he also began to show aggression with his 30-ball knock accounting for three fours and two maximums.

Rachad Forde would get Griffith skying to Navin Stewart while Foo would pull Aaron Alfred to Dejourn Charles at short fine leg. The Guyanese team never looked like slowing down and despite vice-captain Travis Blyden being bowled for three by Josh Telemaque, Winston Forrester and Quintin Sampson provided fireworks in the tail. Sampson smashed 36 off 14 with a four and four sixes while Forrester got 23 off 19 with two fours to help push their side over 200. Alfred would bowl Sampson and Kevon Carmichael for two late on to end on three for 43 while Telemaque claimed two for 37.

Marlins never looked comfortable in the wicket with only four batsmen getting double figures. Charles slapped 30 off 19 (two fours and three sixes) but after he was bowled by captain Steven Jacobs, the innings fell apart. Jacobs would claim Marcus Daniel (eight), Leron Lezama (seven) and Alfred for fifteen. He ended with five for 27 from four overs with Shaquille Duncan being stumped for four by Savory. Telemaque (12) tried to repair the damage along with Forde (24 off 14) but Anthony Adams got the former LBW and ran the latter out to signal defeat. Stewart was bowled by Raj Nanan for five and Nedd also lost his stumps to Sampson for seven to end the innings in 19.3 overs.

In the second match, Marlins won the toss and elected to bat first but they fared much worse as only Charles was able to get into double figures with 28 off 24 (three fours, one six). When he fell to Varoon Samaroo, the team hit self-destruct and crumbled in just 11.4 overs. Samaroo scalped three for ten but it was Justin Joseph who caused the most damage with three for two. Rakesh Maharaj chipped in with two for 17 to set up an easy chase. However, Kwani Thomas (two for 30) ensured it would be a rough start for Preysal by removing both Kadesh Samlalsingh and Kamil Pooran for duck each. After the openers fell, Mark Deyal and Christian Thurton would score at almost ten an over to bring the game home. Deyal cracked 43 off 28 with four fours and two sixes while Thurton made 25 off 14 with three fours.