Sunil Narine ended his List A career on a high, grabbing three wickets for 17 runs to help the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force clinch the CG United Super50 title with an emphatic seven-wicket victory over the Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the tournament final at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, yesterday.
The 35-year-old “mystery” spinner ended the tournament with a joint series-best 20 scalps as the Hurricanes, who won the toss and opted to bat first, were dismissed for 135 off 41.5 overs with fast bowler Terrance Hinds (3-16) and veteran off-spinner Sunil Narine (3-17) spearheading the attack.
Jahmar Hamilton top-scored with a valiant 62 off 102 deliveries, but Hayden Walsh (20) was the only other batsman to show any enterprise.
The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force responded with 141 for three off 23.4 overs to win their 14th regional 50-over title.
Asked to chase a revised target of 138, captain Darren Bravo struck 40 off 35 deliveries to end as the tournament leading scorer with 416 runs at an average of 83, while left-hander Nicholas Pooran finished off the game in style with a sensational 20-ball unbeaten 39 as Red Force clinched victory in the 24th over.
“Genuinely, I don’t think I could ask for a better ending,” said Man-of-the-Match Narine, who was playing his final domestic 50-over game.
“The way the boys played the entire season and truly dominated the last two games, genuinely, I couldn’t ask for more.”
In run chase, Joshua Da Silva struck a run-a-ball 28 in a 45-run opening stand with Kjorn Ottley (23) who then put on a further 39 for the second wicket with Bravo as Red Force flourished.
Leg-spinner Walsh bowled Ottley in the 17th over and then went through Bravo’s defense with a googly to rattle the stumps in the 21st over, after the left-hander had punched three fours and two sixes.
Pooran then took matters into his own hands, blasting four and four sixes in a 30-run, unbroken fourth wicket partnership with Jason Mohammed (five not out) to finish the game quickly.
Narine announced his retirement from international cricket and List A cricket last Sunday, signaling that he wanted to win the title in his last match for T&T.
Narine leaves behind a List A career that includes 190 wickets and 714 runs in 116 matches.
The off spinner won Super 50 titles in 2015, 2021, and now in 2023.