Trinidad keep hopes alive

A day after Highveld Lions suffered a tragic loss in Jaipur, it was the turn of another South African side to face a cruel end. Needing a win to book their spot in the semi-final, Titans seemed to be on course against Trinidad and Tobago with AB de Villiers (23 not out from 13) anchoring the chase. The high-scoring thriller however ended abruptly as rain played spoilsport yet again. Heavy showers lashed the ground when the Titans, chasing 189 for victory, had reached 153/6 and required 36 from last three overs. With no further play possible thanks to wet patches on the ground, T&T emerged victorious by six runs (D/L) method as Titans were found to be short of the par score of 159 at the end of 17 overs. The victory helped T&T climb to second spot in the table with eight points from three games. The Titans too have same points but with no games left, they will have to wait for favourable results. Put in to bat first on a placid pitch, T&T were propelled to a challenging 188/6 thanks to a brilliant 109-run stand between Evin Lewis 70 (35b, 7x4, 5x6) and Darren Bravo 63 (44b 5x4 4x6). They suffered an early jolt when struggling opener Lendl Simmons was dismissed for a duck but the wicket seemed to have no impact whatsoever as the two left-handers sent the Titans on a leather hunt. Such was the aggression that 10 boundaries and five sixes were smashed at the halfway stage. With the pitch not providing any assistance, a hapless Titans watched as the duo shared a 100-run stand in only 59 balls. A stunning catch ended Lewis’ stay in the 13th over but there was no stopping the Caribbean side. The Titans bowled well in the death overs but 15 runs in the final over from Marchant de Lange pushed them back once again. Led by skipper Henry Davids (42 off 22 balls), Titans responded in an attacking manner hitting five boundaries in the second over bowled by Samuel Badree. They made good use of the power play overs but once Davids was removed with a perfect yorker bowled by Ryad Emrit in the seventh, the Titans struggled. In the next five overs, they managed to hit just one boundary and instead lost three wickets. Needing 97 from eight overs, Farhaan Behardien 29 (19b 3x6) and star batter de Villiers brought the equation down to 54 from five overs but Narine struck twice in his final over to put brakes on Titans’ enterprising chase. Scorecard T&T: L. Simmons b de Lange0, E. Lewis c Richards b van der Merwe 70, D. Bravo b de Lange 63, N. Pooran c van der Merwe b Davids 11, N. Stewart c Mosehle b de Lange 23, D. Ramdin c Mosehle b Morkel 6, S. Narine (not out) 8, J. Mohammed (not out) 1. Extras (lb 1, w 5) 6, Total (for 6 wkts, in 20 overs) 188. FoW: 1-4, 2-113, 3-145, 4-164, 5-171, 6-179. Bowling: Morkel 4-1-29-1, de Lange 4-0-38-3, Richards 2-0-26-0, Wiese 3-0-26-0, Davids 3-0-31-1, Behardien 1-0-12-0, van der Merwe 3-0-25-1. Titans: H. Davids b Emrit 42, J. Rudolph c Emrit b Simmons 31, H. Kuhn c Lewis b Badree 7, van der Merwe c Bravo b Simmons 4, AB de Villiers (not out) 23, F. Behardien c Lewis b Narine 29, D. Wiese c Badree b Narine 0, M. Mosehle (not out) 11. Extras (lb 2, w 3, nb 1) 6, Total (for 6 wkts, in 17 overs) 153. FoW: 1-65, 2-79, 3-88, 4-88, 5-137, 6-137. Bowling: Rampaul 3-0-31-0, Badree 3-0-33-1, Narine 4-0-23-2 Emrit 3-0-31-1, Stewart 1-0-15-0, Simmons 3-0-18-2.