PORT OF SPAIN – West Indies spinners Khary Pierre and Yannic Cariah shared seven wickets between them to propel defending champions Trinidad & Tobago Red Force to a 60-run victory over Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) Marooners in their opening match of the CG United Super50 competition on Tuesday.
After losing the toss and being sent in to bat, T&T made just 194 in their 50 overs, with Kjorn Ottley leading the way at the top of the order with a knock of 45.
CCC seemed to be cruising to victory at 102 for two at one stage, but Pierre grabbed four wickets and leg spinner Carah took three, to see them collapse to 134 all out.
The Marooners looked set to create the tournament’s first upset when top scorer Shaqkere Parris and Demario Richards were in control following the wickets of Kamil Pooran and Kieran Powell.
But needing just 93 more runs for victory, CCC shockingly collapsed to lose their last eight wickets for just 32 runs.
Parris, the backbone of the innings, batted impressively and brought up his half century by pulling Cariah over midwicket for six in the 25th over.
But Cariah got his revenge in his next over when Parris tried to repeat the shot but picked out Pierre at deep square leg to be out for 57 from 68 balls, inclusive of five fours and two sixes.
His departure sparked a collapse, and four balls later with just one more run added, Cariah bowled Richards as he attempted an expansive cover drive to leave CCC 103 for four.
Akshaya Persaud made just eight before Pierre accounted for his wicket and when captain Shamarh Brooks flicked Jason Mohammed straight to Amir Jangoo at square leg to be out for 10, CCC were in trouble at 121 for six in the 34th over.
There was very little resistance from the lower order as the last four wickets fell for just 13 runs to give T&T a comfortable victory in the end.
Pierre ended with the impressive figures of 4-8 from 9.1 overs and Cariah had 3-31 from his eight overs.
Earlier, Red Force seemed well poised to post a challenging total after openers Ottley and Tion Webster, who made 26, along with Amir Jangoo, who scored 29, had them well positioned on 113 for one in the 30th over.
But when Romario Greaves dismissed Ottley, T&T lost four wickets for nine runs to slump to 122 for five.
It took a 68-run partnership between Jyd Goolie, who made 37 and Cariah to rescue them and get them up to their eventual total.
Once Cariah was run out for 28 with the score 190 for six, Amari Goodridge grabbed three quick wickets to quickly wrap up the tail and prevent T&T from passing the 200-run mark. (CMC)
