CLT20 Qualifiers: Somerset Beat Auckland In Thriller, TT Crush Leicestershire

Trinidad and Tobago became the first team from the Champions League T20 2011 qualifiers to make it through to the main draw. The Caribbean side did it by winning their second game in as many attempts when they crushed the first English side on display, Leicestershire by 51 runs at Hyderabad.

In the other game of the day, it was a second close game from the Pool B when the Somerset side beat the Auckland Aces off the last ball of the game. This put Auckland out of the tournament and makes for an interesting final day of the qualifiers – with two of the three slots in the main draw still up for grabs!

That Trinidad and Tobago is a team full of confidence after their first win was on display today. They went into the game knowing that they needed to win against Leicestershire as well, to ensure that they didn’t have to rely on permutations and other results to go through and yet, there was no sign of nerves.

The opening pair of Adrian Barath and Lendl Simmons snuffed out any chance that Leicestershire would have had with their record-breaking first wicket stand of 139. Both scored 60s – Barath would later go on to win the man of the match – and Trinidad and Tobago went on to get 168.

In reply, Leicestershire were never in hunt after they lost half their side for only 20. Some late-order throwing of the bat led them to a more respectable 117 for nine but by then the overs had been exhausted, with the game having been extinguished long before it got over.

Ravi Rampaul picked up four wickets, while James Taylor offered the crumbs for the English side with an unbeaten 56.

In the first game of the day tomorrow, Ruhuna play Leicestershire. Somerset will play Kolkata in the second game of the day, that will decide which of the two sides go through to the Champions League T20 this year.

Read more about the results of the first day of the Champions League T20 qualifiers here.