Bridgetown, Barbados.
Barbados won the Regional Four Day cricket final when they defeated Trinidad & Tobago by heavy innings and 22 runs at Kensington Oval this afternoon.
Starting the penultimate day at Kensington Oval on 140 for four and requiring nothing short of a miracle to stay alive in the contest, T&T folded meekly for 237, 25 minutes after lunch to complete a miserable outing and finish the season with little to show for their efforts.
Attacking opener Lendl Simmons converted his overnight 111 into a top score of 140 while Stephen Katwaroo got 34, but the lower order was devoid of fight as T&T lost their last six wickets for 97 runs.
Seamer Javon Searles was the pick of the bowlers, grabbing three for 31 while impressive fast bowler Miguel Cummins added one to his three from overnight to finish with four for 75.
He was voted Man-of-the-Match for his nine-wicket match haul.
T&T captain Denesh Ramdin said afterward that his side’s campaign had suffered because of the loss of key personnel, with the new players not performing up to scratch.
“It was an up and down season and we had to keep chopping and changing players, some going and some coming. We did not get that balance in our batting department so we were always struggling to put 200 runs on the board and our bowlers have done it throughout the season for us,” the West Indies wicketkeeper said.
“This is [one of the few times] we have gotten over 220 runs for the season. It is something we have to think about and we have to go back to our drawing board. The top five or six batters need to come to the party. They didn’t come consistently as we wanted them too in this tournament.”
He added: “Well played to Simmons this game. He got a hundred but coming from 260 behind it is a hard task to overcome that.”
Barbados coach Hendy Springer, was understandably elated by his team’s triumph.
“It feels great after you have completed a season after the kind of start we had, win a trophy and still look around and see some of the young guys improve as well. That is the definition of success for me,” Springer said.
“We had guys that were willing or fight, willing to prove their worth and that was important,” he added.
