T & T thump Leicestershire; qualify for CLT2O main round

T & T produced a superb all-round performance as they spanked Leicestershire Foxes by 51 runs to qualify for the Champions League Twenty20 main tournament.

Hyderabad: Trinidad and Tobago produced a superb all-round performance as they spanked Leicestershire Foxes by 51 runs to qualify for the Champions League Twenty20 main tournament on Tuesday.

Riding on openers Adrian Barath and Lendl Simmons` fluent half-centuries, Trinidad and Tobago first produced a solid batting display to post a competitive 168 for two after electing to bat and then restricted Leicestershire to 117 for nine at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium. With the win on Tuesday, Trinidad booked a berth in the 10-team main tournament. They had defeated Sri Lanka`s Ruhunu Eleven by five wickets in their first Group A qualifier match here on Monday. Chasing 169 for a win, Leicestershire never looked like getting there as they made a disastrous start and crumbled to 20 for five inside sixth over. James Taylor (56) waged a lone battle for Leicestershire, hitting four fours and two sixes on his way to unbeaten 56 from 47 deliveries, but eventually ran short of partners. Pacer Ravi Rampaul was the wrecker-in-chief with figures of four for 14 while Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine chipped in with two wickets each as the Trinidad bowlers made lives of Leicestershire batsmen miserable. The trio ran though the English side`s top and middle order batting by sharing eight wickets among them. Seven of Leicestershire batsmen failed to even cross the double-digit mark. Badree dismissed up Andrew McDonald (0) in the very first over as the batsman perished trying to make room on the offside, but was clean bowled in the process. In the next over, Rampaul got rid off Joshua Cobb (9), who fell trying to up the ante but gave away a simple catch to Lendl Simmons. In the fourth over, Rampaul clean-bowled Wayne White, who departed without even troubling the scorers. Will Jefferson (6) was also clean bowled by Badree in the next over. Leicestershire crumbled under pressure when Trinidad picked up their fifth wicket in the form of Paul Nixon (0). He was trapped leg before by Narine who got his first wicket of the match. Leicestershire were left tottering at 20 for 5 in just six overs and it was left to Taylor and Abdul Razzaq (21) to resurrect the innings. The duo added 47 runs for the sixth wicket in 46 deliveries to take the team`s total past 50-run mark. With nine overs remaining, Leicestershire need 122 to win with just five wickets in hand and Razzaq and Taylor tried to make a match out of it but found the asking rate too high. Razzaq perished in the 14th over trying to go for the maximum off the bowling of Kevon Cooper on the offside but miscued the shot completely. He was caught by Badree. Once the veteran Pakistani departed, the lower-order failed to put up any fight. Rampaul picked up two wickets in two balls in the last over as brilliant all-round display by Trinidad team helped them beat English county champions. Earlier, Barath scored a strokeful 47-ball 62 with the help of six fours and two sixes, while Simmons played 58 balls for his well-crafted 67, which included seven fours, to help their side post a challenging total. PTI