T&T drive Eagles to extinction

Adrian Barath's quickfire 63 set the tone as Trinidad & Tobago posted 231 and maded the semi-finals with a 24-run win

Trinidad & Tobago charged into the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty20 with a comfortable 24-run victory over the Diamond Eagles, who were eliminated in a high-scoring second round match in Hyderabad.

Opener Adrian Barath top-scored with 63 off 41 deliveries, but William Perkins’ 35, Lendl Simmons’ 40 and Navin Stewart’s 33 were also pivotal as T&T powered to an astonishing 213 for four.

The Eagles needed to secure victory with 5.4 overs or more to spare to go through the last four and opening batsmen Rilee Rossouw, who flayed 44 off 19 deliveries, and Morne van Wyk put them on track.

But the Eagles lost steam with the fall of wickets and only managed 189 for five.

Perkins and Barath had exploded off the blocks at the top of the order for T&T, with the dashing Perkins setting the tempo.

He crashed Victor Mpitsang for a four and six in the first over and produced a similar effort in the bowler’s second.

Perkins continued to hit boundaries at will and Barath, scoring at a slower rate, also joined the party by clobbering Mpitsang for his first maximum.

The duo raised T&T’s fifty in just 4.2 overs, the fastest in the tournament until it was bettered by the Eagles, and reached 64 for no loss from the powerplay.

Off-spinner Thandi Tshabalala produced the first breakthrough, bowling Perkins as he backed away to clobber on the off-side, but there was no respite for the Eagles.

Simmons, dropped down the order to three, flayed the next ball for a six and followed up with a boundary to begin the most productive partnership for T&T.

Together with Barath, Simmons put on 76 for the second wicket before being bowled by Ryan McLaren, his knock punctuated by six fours and a six.

The stage was set for a Kieron Pollard onslaught, and the batsman who destroyed New South Wales Blues in the previous match added 23 off 13 before he struck a low Ryan Bailey full toss to long-on.

Prior to that, Barath’s riposte ended when Dillon du Preez knocked out his off stump.

But Stewart provided the acceleration at the end, clubbing three fours and a six as T&T raced past the 200-run mark.

Rossouw led the early charge, smashing Ravi Rampaul for consecutive blows and Dwayne Bravo for a four and two sixes in the first two overs.

Van Wyk too produced the big shots as the Eagles’ fifty came off just 22 deliveries.

But spinner Sherwin Ganga, introduced into the attack in the fourth over, trapped van Wyk leg before in his first over and then got Adrian McLaren the same way as the Eagles lost ground.

The dismissal of the big-hitting Rossouw – caught in the deep by Pollard off Simmons – took the wheels off the Eagles’ chase.

Skipper Boeta Dippenaar, with 33, and du Preez had forged on and when they both fell in quick succession, caught off Pollard, the Eagles were left needing 58 from 19 deliveries.

They only managed 33 as T&T easily progressed.