Debutant Mohammed spins Trinidad to victory

Trinidad and Tobago 106 for 2 (Simmons 42) beat St Lucia 105 (Lesporis 45, Mohammed 5-8) by 8 wickets
Scorecard

Left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed had a dream debut, claiming figures of 5 for 8 to help dismiss St Lucia for 105, after which Trinidad and Tobago chased the target with ease to claim an eight-wicket win at the Stanford Cricket Ground. Incidentally, Mohammed's were the best ever returns in Stanford 20/20 history.

Chasing 106, openers Lendl Simmons and William Perkins gave Trinidad a blazing start, putting on 75 runs in 51 balls, before Perkins, who made 25, was caught by Cyrille Charles of offspinner Shervin Charles. Simmons failed to reach his half-century, when, after scoring 42 with four fours and a six, he was dismissed by seamer Xavier Gabriel. Daren Ganga and Kieron Pollard then knocked off the remaining runs to complete a facile win.

Earlier, St Lucia's openers Keddy Lesporis and Johnson Charles added 45 runs in eight overs before Charles was bowled by Richard Kelly. The second-wicket stand between Lesporis and Shervin Charles (17) fetched 35 runs, before Charles was caught by Mervyn Dillon of offspinner Sherwin Ganga.

But the complexion of the match changed when Lesporis, who had kept up St Lucia's scoring rate with a 40-ball 45 with three fours and a six, was caught by Samuel Badree of Mohammed, who was introduced in the 16th over. Mohammed then dismissed Mervin Wells to make it two wickets in succession. Medium-pacer Rayad Emrit claimed the wickets of Cyrille Charles and Sergio Fedee, while Mohammed had Alleyne Prospere caught by Sherwin Ganga before adding two more wickets to get his five-for. Not surprisingly, Mohammed went home richer by US$25,000 when he received the Man-of-the-Match award.