Bravo helps T&T book final place

Trinidad and Tobago beat the Cape Cobras by seven wickets to enter into the final of the Airtel Champions League T20.

An unbeaten half-century from Dwayne Bravo overshadowed an all-round performance from JP Duminy as Trinidad and Tobago beat the Cape Cobras in the second semi-final in Hyderabad.

Duminy anchored the Cobras' innings with another unflappable performance, his 61 from 40 deliveries after Herschelle Gibbs' scintillating 42 from 27 balls at the top the order helping the South African side to 175 for five.

Adrian Barath (29) and William Perkins (20) then gave T&T's chase a solid start, while Bravo (58 off 34) and Darren Ganga (44 off 31) put on 93 in an unbroken stand for the fourth wicket as the Caribbean outfit secured their place in the final.
They will take on New South Wales Blues in the final at the same venue on Friday.

Gibbs, who had managed only one run from three previous matches, lost opening partner Andrew Puttick cheaply after a tentative start.

Off-spinner Sherwin Ganga and Ravi Rampaul had conceded only four singles each from their first overs, but Gibbs quickly exploded into action.

The South African opener turned on the aggression in the fourth over, hammering Dwayne Bravo for four boundaries as the Cobras managed 54 from their powerplay.

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Gibbs' innings came to an end when he was bowled by Kieron Pollard and the Cobras briefly looked in danger of collapsing when Henry Davids was brilliantly caught by Dave Mohammad off his own bowling.

Duminy steadied the ship, complementing the big-hitting Rory Kleinveldt (21) in a 34-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Kleinveldt was the second of Lendl Simmons' victims but Duminy accelerated fluently, as the Cobras raced past 150.

Bravo was clobbered for more runs in his third over - the penultimate of the innings which yielded 20 - but the innings finished in an anti-climax of sorts with Rampaul sending down an excellent final over, conceding only two.

Charl Langeveldt, back after suffering a shoulder injury in the Cobras' first match, had begun with a tight first over, but Barath and Perkins launched the chase by ripping into Monde Zondeki.

The seam bowler conceded 30 from his first two overs and, although Perkins was run out, T&T made 57 from their first six overs.

Duminy and Justin Ontong pulled things back with their spin, both bowlers striking in their first over.

The dismissals brought Darren Ganga and Bravo together and the two steadily rebuilt.

T&T needed 61 from 36 and Bravo, who was dropped on 17 by Ontong, launched into an array of strokes to reduce the requirement to 18 from the last three overs.

Bravo reached his half-century with a boundary off Langeveldt and brought up victory with another boundary off Kleinveldt in the final over.

Teams:

Cape Cobras: AG Puttick*, HH Gibbs, H Davids, JP Duminy, JL Ontong, VD Philander, RCC Canning†, RK Kleinveldt, CW Henderson, M Zondeki, CK Langeveldt.

Trinidad & Tobago: A Barath, WKD Perkins, LMP Simmons, D Ganga*, DJ Bravo, KA Pollard, D Ramdin†, S Ganga, ND Stewart, D Mohammed, R Rampaul.

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