Barbados take title after thrilling finish

A mid-innings stutter cost Trinidad & Tobago the Nagico Super50 title as they fell short of Barbados' total by 17 runs. The win ensured that Barbados finished the List A competition unbeaten.

Chasing 253, T&T were given a brisk start by their openers, Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis, who added 57 in 8 overs. Lewis was the more aggressive of the two, hitting four fours off Fidel Edwards, but his dismissal in the eighth over triggered a slide that saw T&T go from 57 for 0 to 94 for 5.

Denesh Ramdin and Jason Mohammed then led T&T's recovery, with a cautious 48-run sixth-wicket stand that was broken by Suleiman Benn, who dismissed Mohammed for 26. Carlos Brathwaite then dismissed Sunil Narine and Kevon Cooper in a short span to hand Barbados a clear advantage.

Playing on their home ground, however, T&T were playing tenaciously, their chances of a win kept alive by Denesh Ramdin, who went after Carlos Brathwaite and Edwards. He struck successive fours off Carlos Brathwaite in the 40th over and then reached his fifty with a six off Edwards. Dwayne Smith's return to the attack was greeted with a four through backward square-leg and Ramdin smacked another hook off Smith before the bowler trapped him in front with a fuller-length ball. There was still some life left in the game as No. 10 Rayad Emrit struck a six and a four off Ashley Nurse an over after Ramdin's departure. An attempted third run in the 46th over turned out to be Emrit's undoing, sealing the win for Barbados.

Barbados' innings had a similar pattern after they won the toss and opted to bat. Smith and Kraigg Brathwaite shared an opening stand of 127, with Smith smacking 83 off those runs in 77 balls.The pair played the first few overs cautiously but began their charge on the T&T bowling in the fifth over when Smith hit Dwayne Bravo for successive fours. He was given a reprieve in the next over after Lewis at deep square leg failed to hold on to a chance.

T&T's bowlers, particularly, Narine, who was introduced in the 10th over, were able to keep Kraigg Brathwaite quiet but Smith capitalised on his reprieve, getting to a fifty in the 15th over.

Both openers were out in the space of three overs, but Jonathan Carter and Barbados captain Kevin Stoute kept the scoreboard moving with 63-run, third-wicket partnership. Carter was out lbw to Narine one short of his fifty and Barbados' position got shakier when Kevon Cooper dismissed Carlos Brathwaite two balls after the batsman had smacked him for a six. Cooper's next over produced two scalps - he had Stoute and Shane Dowrich out lbw off the first and last balls of the 41st over - and the 42nd over began with the dismissal of Kenroy Williams. Within five overs, Barbados had stumbled from 195 for 2 to 210 for 7.

The task of a competitive total was left to the tail-enders and Benn responded with an unbeaten 18-ball 22 that helped push the side's score to 252.