Munro, the Bravos take Trinbago to last-ball win over Jamaica

The trip to the United States of America hasn’t gone well for Jamaica so far. On Saturday, they lost to Guyana Amazon Warriors by 71 runs, and on Sunday, Trinbago, the defending champions, handed out another defeat to them.

It could have well gone the other way on the night.

Asked to bat first, Jamaica put up 182/5. The last over of Trinbago’s chase began with seven needed, and it went down to the last ball before Javon Searles hit Oshane Thomas for four to seal victory. It was Jamaica’s second loss in a row after they had won their first three games, and Trinbago’s third win in five games, putting them both on six points.

Guyana Amazon Warriors, however, are top of the pile, on six points from four games, with Trinbago and Jamaica behind them.

The Jamaica innings started with Kennar Lewis, Steven Taylor and Ross Taylor falling with 47 runs on the board by the ninth over. Khary Pierre, the left-arm spinner, picked up two wickets while Fawad Ahmed accounted for the New Zealand veteran.

But Glenn Phillips and David Miller then got together to first revive the innings and then ignite it, collaborating for 112 runs for the fourth wicket in 10 overs.

Phillips, opening the innings, hit four sixes in the space of six balls across two overs, and the two batsmen kept the tempo up with some muscular shots from Miller and a lot of innovative ones from Phillips.

The partnership ended when Philips went for one more switch hit but top-edged it for Dwayne Bravo, the bowler, to run back and take a smart catch. Phillips fell for 80 in 55 balls.

Miller carried on, ending the innings with a straight six off Ali Khan, the medium-pacer, to finish on an unbeaten 72 from just 34 balls. He hit five fours and five sixes to Phillips’ three fours and five sixes.

The Trinbago chase got off to a poor start, with Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn failing again, and Brendon McCullum also getting out within the Powerplay to leave them at a precarious 28/3.

But Colin Munro was still in the middle, and with Darren Bravo, the hero of Trinbago’s win over St Lucia Stars, in the mood, the two set about resurrecting the innings. Both of them hit half-centuries, and added 107 runs for the fourth wicket.

Darren Bravo fell first, on exactly 50, after hitting five sixes in his 35-ball innings, and Munro departed not long after, having put together a further 34 runs with Dwayne Bravo. Munro scored 67 in 51 balls with four fours and four sixes, but when he was dismissed by Andre Russell, Trinbago still needed 14 from eight balls.

Dwayne Bravo made things a little simpler for Trinbago with a six to bring the equation a bit more in his team’s favour, but when Thomas sent him back third ball of the last over, it got tricky again. Searles, however, saw to it that the result went Trinbago’s way.

Pierre was named the Player of the Match for his outstanding returns of 2/19. “It was a good wicket and I backed myself to bowl my variations. The coaching staff made a plan and it worked out,” he said afterwards.

“It was important to get these two points. I was happy with the (Jamaica) score given our line-up. We had a plan and they did not get off to a flier but I was still happy with our bowling effort. I was backing our team to chase it,” said Dwayne Bravo, the winning captain.

“Spinners on this ground can travel and Darren is one of the best players of spin bowling and Colin is one of better players of seam bowling. When I came in, I did not have much of a choice. Khary has experience and he has grown from strength to strength. I am happy with the effort from the guys.”

The Jamaica campaign, meanwhile, seems to have gone a bit awry after a blazing start, and Ross Taylor said the team needed to get their ‘passion’ back.

“There were a few half chances we would have liked to take, but Oshane bowled superbly to take it to the last ball despite his inexperience,” he said. “We want to play with a bit of passion; we have lost a bit of momentum over the last two games and we'll look to come back hard against Barbados (Tridents) in our next game and reverse this little dip we are in.”