Twenty-four hours after helping bowled Queen’s Park Cricket Club I (QPCC) into the title match with a hat-trick of wickets against Clarke Road United in their semi-final match at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain Couva on Thursday, Yannic Cariah, the right-arm leg spinner repeated the feat in the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) Premier Division I T20 Festival final against Powergen Penal, yesterday at the same venue.
QPCC I, the defending champion team scored a massive 207/3 in their 20 overs with half-centuries from West Indies players top-order batsman left-hander Darren Bravo and all-rounder Akael Hosein, who also bats left handed.
Jason Mohammed, the captain of Powergen Penal won the toss and asked the Port-of-Spain based QPCC I to bat and his decision looked like a genius move when opener Tion Webster was caught by Narad Kissoondath off Kavash Kantasinght bowling without a run on the board with the second ball of the innings.
However, that was all the success they would enjoy for the next ten overs when Isaiah Rajah lost his wicket after an 80-run partnership with Bravo. He scored a run-a-ball 24 with the scoreboard at 80/2. Terrance Hinds came in for a brief stay that yielded nine runs before Kissoondath and Shaaron Lewis combine to remove him with the scoreboard reading 94/3, and after that, it was the Bravo/Hosein show. The pair combined their experience to beat Powergen Penal bowling attack to all parts of Balmain for an unbroken partnership of 113 off 7.3 overs.
Bravo, the Player of the Tournament, took 37 balls to reach his fifty and ended unbeaten on 79 off 70 balls that comprised seven fours and two sixes as he ended the tournament without being out in five innings with scores of 30, 55, 52, 28 and 79.
However, it was Hosein who showed no mercy for the opposing bowlers taking just 24 balls to score 80 runs that comprised two fours and ten sixes, following up on his 84 off 46 balls in the 50 overs final against Central Sports on May 1 at the same venue. His fifty came up on the 19th ball he faced and he had already clobbered five sixes.
Bravo and Hosein, who was named Player of the Match and Best batsman, were very harsh on the 24-year-old fast bowler Jarlarnie Seales, whose four overs cost him 76 runs without a wicket, while Kantasingh, Shaaron Lewis and Mohammed took one wicket each. Kantasingh’s bowled one over for 12 runs, while Lewis’ four overs cost 24 runs and Mohammed’s three went for 34 runs.
In reply, Powergen Penal which was demoralised in the field, barely put a fight with the bat as only Mohammed’s 32 off 22 balls, Akiel Copper scored 22 off 26 balls and Seales got 21 off 10 balls. He scored three consecutive sixes of right-arm off Spinner Bryan Charles in the sixth before bowled him with the following ball.
Once again, it was Cariah, who did most of the damage with his leg spins when in the tenth over he again took a hat-trick of wickets (Akiel Cooper, Steven Katwaroo and Uthman Muhammad) to finish with 3/10 from four overs. On Thursday he finished with 4/16 from four overs. Charles took 2/25 and skipper Khary Pierre ended with 2/21.
QPCC I earned the championship trophy and $80,000 while Powergen Penal got $40,000 and the losing semi-finalists Central Sports and Clarke Road United were rewarded with $15,000 each.
SUMMARISE SCORES
QUEEN’S PARK CRICKET CLUB I 207/3 (20 Overs) (A. Hosein 80, D. Bravo 79, I. Rajah 24; K. Kantasingh 1/12, S. Lewis 1/24, J. Mohammed 1/34) vs POWERGEN PENAL 118 all out (19 Overs) (J. Mohammed 32, A. Cooper 22, J. Seales 21; Y. Cariah 3/10, B. Charles 2/25, K. Pierre 2/21) QPCC I won by 89 runs.