Thaindian News

Chennai, Oct 4 (IANS) Young Kevon Cooper dubbed his 11-ball 25 not out as a “dream come true” as his stupendous effort at the death carried Trinidad and Tobago to a two-wicket win against Nashua Cape Cobras in the Nokia Champions League T20 tournament here Tuesday.

“It’s a good feeling and difficult to express my feelings right now. After watching the guys play international cricket on TV, and then playing against them, playing a big knock for my team, it is something I dream about. I am happy right now and hope for better things now,” said Cooper at the post-match media conference.

Cooper attributed his team’s success to an uncluttered collective mind going into the game that they needed to win to stay in contention for a semi-final berth.

“Skipper Darren (Ganga) and the team management had asked us to keep an open mind, regardless of whether we batted first or bowled first. We really wanted to win and I am proud to have played good cricket,” said Cooper.

Ganga gushed praise on Cooper, saying: “Ever since he was selected for Trinidad and Tobago at the age of 16, he has shown promise and talent, and it’s really great to see him win this match; so congratulations to him and the entire team.”

The captain said even if the team failed to reach the semi-finals, they could still be proud of their achievement, especially after losing their opening two games before getting past the Chennai Super Kings and the Cobras.

“If it doesn’t happen, we can hold our heads high. We came here without our three biggest players and people didn’t give us a chance.

“We had a qualifying round. I got information that a lot of Trinidadians wanted to make the journey to support the side, but they didn’t because they had reservations about us going forward in the tournament.

“I’ve said time and time again, this is a team, not an individual or about two or three players and we work hard as a team,” said Ganga.

In contrast to the jubilation in the Trinidad and Tobago camp, Cobras skipper Justin Kemp was understandably downcast and opined that the bowling let the team down.

“It’s disappointing, but to be fair, we haven’t bowled well at all, really. We made crucial mistakes which you can’t make at this level and unfortunately it caught up with us tonight.

“You can’t be bowling three, four no-balls in one over, which means you are struggling. You are chasing a relatively low score, and if you bowl a few wides too, it doesn’t make it any easier.

“I thought with three overs to go, we were really in there, Robin Peterson’s first five balls (in the 18th over) were fantastic and obviously the last ball was a six, and they were back in it. That’s Twenty20, that’s how it works,” said Kemp.

He justified the decision to bowl Dale Steyn the 19th over, pointing out that the fast bowler had conceded just three runs in his first three.

“He bowled beautifully. He is one of the world’s best death bowlers. I have got to bowl my best death bowler at the death. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. We didn’t what we wanted to execute, and that’s why we are going home,” he said.