CLT20: Ravi Rampaul blows away Brisbane Heat

Ravi Rampaul picked up four wickets for T&T

Trinidad and Tobago, defending 135 runs and deprived of their star players, still managed to register an easy 25-run victory against Brisbane Heat at the JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi.

Brisbane Heat captain James Hopes’ decision to bowl first after winning the toss was immediately justified, as his fast bowlers, Alister McDermott and Kemar Roach, stifled the T&T batsmen with some sharp bowling to leave the opposition reeling at 38/3 in 4.4 overs.

Just when T&T, led by Denesh Ramdin and Jason Mohammed, looked well on course to recovery from the early setback with a score of 71/3 in 10 overs, Nathan Hauritz’s double strikes in the 11th over dented them further.

Ramdin however did not give up his hopes as his 48 off 38 deliveries gave T&T a score of 135 to defend. Samuel Badree hit a couple of maximums to improve the target in the last over bowled by McDermott, who picked up four wickets for Brisbane Heat.

In reply, the Heat batsmen found the going difficult against Ravi Rampaul and Samuel Badree who complemented each other very well. They were rewarded with a wicket each, of James Hopes and Peter Forrest.

Around the 10-over mark, Brisbane looked like a team that had completely lost the plot with just 47 runs on the board. To make matters worse, Sunil Narine had his entire quota of four overs left with Brisbane needing 89 off 60 balls.

Having negotiated Narine’s first two overs with ease, Joe Burns, who was eventually dismissed for a 43-ball 45, threatened to take away the game from T&T but Daniel Christian‘s dismissal to Rayad Emrit ceded the initiative back to the Caribbean team.

From 75/2 in 13 overs, they lost their remaining 8 wickets for just 35 runs to fold up for 110/10 in 18.4 overs. Ravi Rampaul returned to pick up three more wickets including that of Burns while Narine’s variations proved to be too good for Chris Lynn, the Brisbane Heat dangerman.