Winning the toss, the home team surprised the very large crowd on hand by deciding to bat on the Munroe Rd ground at Cunupia which was still heavy from the earlier rains despite the brilliant sunshine yesterday morning. But only skipper Daren Ganga, who compiled a solid half-century, seemed to have the technical and mental equipment required to perform in the difficult circumstances.
Ganga's 57 was the only score of note, the next best being Navin Chan's 19 as the other batsmen all failed miserably against an undistinguished Jamaican attack. T&T were bundled out for 128 runs after 49 of the allotted 50 overs.
The home team's problems started from as early as the first over of the match when the previous day's batting hero Andy Jackson (2) was caught by skipper Ricardo Powell off the bowling of pacer Wade Allen with only two runs on the board.
They plunged into further trouble when the other opener Sherwin Ganga (5) was bowled by Jermaine Lawson with the score on 24. Imran Jan then joined skipper Ganga and they both set about repairing the early damage.
But when the partnership was worth 35, Jan patted a short ball from Powell straight into the lap of Bevon Brown and was dismissed for 12. After that, wickets kept falling regularly although Ganga stayed around long enough to reach his half-century which contained only two fours.
But as soon as he reached the landmark, he attempted to accelerate the scoring and was caught on the boundary with the score on 109. After that the innings folded quickly.
The Jamaicans were off to a brisk start as openers Christopher Gayle and Ryan Smith raced to 48 before the first wicket fell.
Gayle, the more aggressive of the pair, struck four boundaries and one six before he fell LBW to leg-spinner Kishore Lalchan for 37.
After his departure Powell made his entry and immediately announced his arrival with a powerful straight-drive off Ricardo Paty for a boundary. Powell's punishing mood never changed as he belted three fours and four sixes in racing to his unbeaten half-century.
He was extremely severe on Dave Mohammed, hitting the left-arm spinner for three huge sixes. His partner Smith, who was much more patient, remained unbeaten on 31 when Jamaica reached their target.
At Arouca, Barbados registered their second successive victory when they easily cruised past the Windward Islands by 77 runs. Batting first, the Barbadians got half-centuries from Antonio Mayers (89) and Sean Sargeant(58) to amass 226 for 6.
The Windwards in reply could do no better than 149.