'Unbelievable' Central Sports retain T20 crown

Six weeks after lifting the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) National League Premiership I title, the star-studded Central Sports team defended their TTCB Twenty/20 Festival Premiership I crown on May 4 when they defeated PowerGen Penal by five wickets at the Queen's Park Oval, St Clair in a rematch of last year's final.

Central Sports owner Richard Ramkissoon hailed his team's feat as "unbelievable" and he said there is just one more hurdle to cross to lift the elusive treble.

"We had a vision at the beginning of the season where we set these goals. We wanted to win two titles and defend our T20 crown," Ramkissoon told Newsday. "We're really ecstatic. It's unbelievable."

On May 3, Central Sports chased a daunting 220-run target with seven balls to spare against Clarke Road United in the semifinal to book their final spot.

At the toss on May 4, Central Sports captain and former West Indies batsman Lendl Simmons said his team was comfortable chasing any total.

Central Sports inserted PowerGen, who made a challenging score of 209 for four, with massive contributions from the opening pair of Cephas Cooper (85 off 51 balls) and Daniel Williams (83 off 57 balls).

In the chase, Central Sports got valuable contributions from varying batsmen as they got to 211 for five with a ball to spare, to cop the $80,000 first prize.

Similar to their semifinal win, Barbados allrounder Roshon Primus (33 not out off 17 balls) came up clutch for the Felicity/Chaguanas outfit, and his unbeaten six-wicket stand of 36 with Mikkel Govia (16 not out off seven balls) saw the reigning champions over the line in dramatic fashion. Primus made a monstrous 77 off 34 balls in the semifinal to help guide Central Sports past Clarke Road, and his timely knock in the final helped him cop the Player-of-the-Tournament award.

Simmons praised the experience of his Central Sports team, who will now be looking to capture a hat-trick of titles as they are still in contention for the TTCB 50-over Premiership I crown.

At the post-match ceremony, Simmons was asked if his team felt any pressure to repeat their 2023 feat.

"I don't think we were under pressure. We won the league and we had a very good team. We have some good players who have played international cricket so it made my job easier," the former T20 World Cup winner said.

"Chasing 200 again was a task. This time, we got a good start in the power play and we batted the middle overs (well). Roshon Primus came good again for us."

After being sent in, Cooper and Williams tried their utmost to bat Central Sports out of the game, and they put on a mammoth 183-run partnership for the first wicket, which fell in the 17th over. PowerGen raced to 165 without loss after 15 overs, but they only managed 44 runs in the last five overs as Central Sports held their own at the death to restrict their opponents to a manageable score on a fine batting wicket.

Jesse Bootan, the MVP of this year's Dream11 Bago T10 Blast tournament, was promoted to open the innings and he showed off his brute power as he blazed 47 off just 16 balls with seven fours and two sixes to get Central Sports off to a rapid start. Bootan was named Man of the Match, and his 60-run opening stand with Kjorn Ottley (51 off 42 balls) set up the innings nicely as Central Sports got to 73 for one at the end of the power play and then progressed to 111 for one by the ten-over mark.

"The start we got in that power play propelled us and really gave the guys the encouragement to go forward," Ramkissoon said. "It came down to a nail-biter but we won it with one ball to spare. The thing is, we were able to defend the title."

A watchful Ottley played second fiddle in a 52-run stand with the aggressive Kamil Pooran who made a breezy 35 off 23 balls before being dismissed by Nicholas Ali in the 11th over with the score on 112 for two.

Simmons (12) had a brief stay at the crease before being trapped lbw by Navin Bidaisee, while Ottley and a hobbling Terrance Hinds (five) fell in consecutive overs to leave Central Sports on 175 for five after 17.3 overs.

Central Sports required 35 off the last 15 balls as Govia joined Primus in the middle, and the pair swung the equation in their team's favour when they took a whopping 19 runs off the penultimate over from Uthman Muhammad – hitting a six each in the over.

Central Sports needed seven runs off the last over from left-arm seamer Shaaron Lewis, and Primus opened his broad shoulders to thump the fifth ball of the over into the long-off boundary to give his team their second title of the season.

Simmons said, "Queen's Park said, 'Defend the land.' They weren't in the finals, so we defended the land for them."

Ramkissoon said Central Sports now have a singular focus.

"We said we wanted to achieve the treble and we're unbeaten right now in the TTCB 50-over competition and we're looking forward with tremendous enthusiasm to lift this trophy. Our head is focused on lifting that triple. Central Sports have never done that before."