Cameron Delport came to the party in style with a 38-ball fifty to help Trinidad and Tobago take the Caribbean Premier league T20 series.
It was a remarkable turnaround for the T&T Red Steel, who had to fight their way through the play-offs, beating Jamaica in the first semifinal, then overwhelming Guyana in the second. Only then could they face up to Barbados, who by stint of having topped the log, were sitting back and watching the action. They played five matches in eight days.
Delport’s 50, which came with six fours and two sixes, contributed to a second-wicket stand of 102 with Kamran Akmal (60 off 46). Jacques Kallis had departed for eight, bowled by left-arm spinner Robin Petersen with the score on 18. When Delport went, caught and bowled by Keiron Pollard after 15 overs, Red Steel were in a good position. A quick 29 off 15 balls from Dwayne Brave boosted the total to 178-5. Peterson ended with a creditable -24 off his four overs.
Barbados, though, were never able to accelerate from a decent platform at 117-2 after 14 overs, falling short by 20 runs.
Delport’s innings was his highest of the series, following his 44 in the last league game. Before the play-offs he had just 163, and then managed scores of just one and three. It was payback time. Kallis, too, had a quiet run-in after his 61 propelled Red Steel into the knock-outs. He added just 22 runs in the three playoff innings to his season’s total of 288.
Back in soggy England, Richard Levi continued his good form with a determined 87 off 106 balls, but it was all in vain as Northamptonshire went down by 54 runs to Durham in the opening Royal London One-Day Cup match.
He played his part in chasing 303, but there was little support below Until David Willey (34) and Ben Duckett (69) helped him take the score to 209-6, at which point he was bowled and it was effectively game over.
Riki Wessels ended unbeaten on 85 as Nottinghamshire blew Warwickshire away by nine wickets. He shared an opening stand of 164 with Alex Hales, who took the leading role with a quickfire 103 off 61 balls (7×4, 9×6). Wessels ended with eight fours and two sixes in his 84-ball innings.
Wayne Madsen top-scored with 45 off 28 balls as Derbyshire beat Somerset by 29 runs in a match curtailed by rain.
All other matches were rained off
Compiled by Mark Salter
