Dillon bowls T&T to historic series win

Trinidad & Tobago 259 and 319 beat Barbados 167 and 147 (Dillon 5-36) by 264 runs
Scorecard

Carnival came three weeks early for the Trinidad and Tobago team as they captured their first major title in 21 years to lift the 2005-06 Carib Beer Cup. They completed an emphatic 264-run victory over Barbados on the fourth day of the match at the Carlton Sports Club on Sunday.

Resuming the day on 112 for 6 in pursuit of 412 to win, Barbados, the pre-series leaders, were bowled out for 147. Mervyn Dillon, the West Indies opening bowler, took three of the last four wickets to finish the innings with 5 for 36 off 21 overs - and a match haul of 8 for 65 which won him the Man-of-the-Match award.

"I think we were starved of an opportunity to play for a regional first-class title for so long, and now being in position to win a title that was our motivation here," Daren Ganga, the T&T captain, told reporters. "When we won the regional limited-overs competition, ironically in Barbados in 2004, I vowed that T&T should take that type of momentum and win a four-day competition. We did not win the title the next year, but two years down the line we have achieved it, and I think it was a matter of self belief."

T&T entered the match last Thursday knowing only victory could give them the title because Barbados needed only one point to seal the deal. "I think we knew that we were the underdogs, and I think that was a great position in which to be coming into a final game, and the guys were up for the challenge from the word 'Go!'," Ganga said. "Even from the day before the match, we knew that if we played good cricket, we would come out with the Cup at the end of the day."

Although Barbados' decision to put T&T into bat surprised Ganga, he was thrilled, since he believed a competitive total would have been challenging for the home team to chase. "We should have gotten more runs in the first innings, considering the start to the innings we had," he said. "In retrospect, in our planning, we knew most regional teams struggle to chase totals to win games. This was our plan, no matter what total we got on the board. We wanted to put pressure on them on the last day, or the second-last day. We knew we had a chance and the guys played well. We are still surprised how meekly Barbados played, but they were never put under pressure for the entire competition, so I thought that if we were to do this, we would have a chance. Most regional teams when they are put under pressure, they crack, and we did this, and came out on top."

Ganga concluded that the title triumph is an achievement similar to T&T's qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals and the men's indoor hockey World Championship.