Ganga and Ramdin lead T&T to victory

Identical scores of 84 from Denesh Ramdin and Daren Ganga helped Trinidad & Tobago knock down a target of 248 with little hassle in their opening KFC Cup match, and avenge their three-wicket loss to Barbados on Monday.

Ramdin, opening the innings, added 147 - a second-wicket record - with Ganga, whose unbeaten innings earned him the Man-of-the-Match award, after William Perkins departed for four in the third over.

Dwayne Bravo didn't last long, nibbling Ryan Hinds' left-arm spin to slip in the 32nd over, but Kieron Pollard scored a plucky 44-ball 46 to assist Ganga across the finish line. Dropped by rookie Kevin Stoute at long-off off Hinds when on 15, Pollard took 15 off Kemar Roach's final over and hit the winning runs with 51 balls left.

Half-centuries from Dwayne Smith, Dale Richards, and Patrick Browne lifted Barbados to 247 for 4 from their 50 overs after the hosts chose to bat. Smith led the way with a 68-ball 71 that included two fours and four sixes, while Richards and Browne, opening the batting, both scored 52 and in a record 102-run stand for their team. Bravo, Dave Mohammed and Sherwin Ganga were the only wicket-takers for T&T.

Leeward Islands captain Sylvester Joseph's unbeaten hundred couldn't stop a top-heavy Jamaica batting order from sealing a five-wicket victory at St Mary's Park. Joseph, 32, was at the centre of Leewards' 232 for 6 but half-centuries from Brenton Parchment, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Tamar Lambert proved too much.

Asked to bat first, Leewards were reeling at 82 for 5 before Joseph and Omari Banks, who continued his good form with 76, added 148. Joseph was in top form, collecting six fours and a six and reaching his hundred with a double off the last ball of the innings.

Jamaica were given a solid start with Parchment (63) and Gayle (54) adding 103 for the first wicket. Gayle his eight fours in his 58-ball innings and Parchment six fours and three sixes. Wavell Hinds, the captain, came and went for 0 but Lambert, with an unbeaten 51 from 52 balls, and Samuels, with a 63-ball 50, added 85 for the fourth wicket. With 14 to win from 15 balls, Samuels departed, but Lambert stayed on until the end. Banks finished with two for 40 while medium pacer Gavin Tonge took 2 for 62.

Liam Sebastian and Rawl Lewis combined for a 126-run fifth-wicket stand to overshadow Royston Crandon's hundred as the Windward Islands brushed aside defending champions Guyana at St. George's. Set 255 to win, Sebastien and Lewis came together at 140 for 4 in the 32nd over, and took the attack back to Guyana, Sebastian hitting an unbeaten 72 and Lewis hitting three sixes in a 47-ball 54.

Opener Devon Smith (59 from 49 balls) got the innings off to a flier, adding 54 in six overs with a in the company of Andre Fletcher (21 from 12 balls). Lewis won the toss and inserted Guyana on a flat track and a fast outfield, and Croydon, with a superb 101, led a solid start with his captain Narsingh Deonarine (54) and Travis Dowlin (42). Crandon, 23, survived a chance to Lewis at cover when on 38, but moved past his fifty from 79 balls and slammed two sixes off Sebastian en route to three figures. Kenroy Peters was the Windwards best bowler with 3 for 56.