T&T’s Strike Squad shot past a team of West Indies cricketers named Real West Indies, winning 4-1 in a Hurricane Relief fund-raising football charity match at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva on Saturday night.
Real West Indies played competitively for long periods, much to the amazement of the cheering fans in the successful fundraiser organised by the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) to help victims of last year's Hurricane Ivan.
The hurricane caused US$92.5 million in damages and deaths, especially in Grenada.
About 3,000 fans saw many members of the veteran 1989 Strike Squad which narrowly missed qualifying for the 1990 World Cup Finals, defeat the youthful bunch of West Indian cricketers, who were brave enough to take up the challenge .
In a touching moment at the end of the game, the players of both teams lined up at the end of the pitch to salute the fans who were the real winners, for showing up to assist their Caribbean brothers and sisters.
From the moment newly-elected West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president, Ken Gordon, kicked off the match it was action.
Surprisingly, the Real West Indies dominated the first 20 minutes, with former national cricket captain and St Mary’s College footballer Richard Smith showing great prowess with the ball.
He excited the fans with his neat footwork and came close to opening the scoring in the 14th minute, but was denied by Dexter Francis at the back.
Goalkeeper Dave Mohammed was also impressive early on, but after 23 minutes he let in the first goal, with the extremely fit Faustin dribbling down the left flank and neatly placing the ball away from a diving Mohammed and into the net.
The West Indies cricketers continued to press forward, as Fidel Edwards and Dwayne Bravo proved a handful for the T&T players.
Ten minutes later, the Windies equalised through Gayle, who pushed in from close up, past keeper Ross Russell.
Four minutes before the half, Faustin again found the net, but World Cup referee Ramesh Ramdhan blew for off-side .
The teams went into the change rooms with the score at 1-1.
Soon after the break, Cyrus broke the deadlock with a strike inside the six-yard box, past a diving Mohammed.
At this point, the West Indies team made a number of substitutions, with the most popular being Courtney Walsh, the tall Jamaican, striding onto the field to a rousing reception.
His presence, however, could not lift the West Indies and a double strike by Jones —in the 73rd and 88th minutes—took the fight out of the West Indies.
At the end, manager of the West Indies team, Omar Khan, said he was not too disappointed with the result, as his team performed very well.
“The guys played really well, but the experience of the Strike Squad was too much to handle in the end.
“I must say congrats to the Strike Squad and also let them know that a rematch might be in the making very soon.”
Teams:
Strike Squad: Clayton Morris (captain), Ross Russell, Brian Williams, Dexter Francis, Marvin Faustin, Kerry Jamerson, Hutson Charles, Larry Sosa, Philbert Jones, Dexter Lee, Leonson Lewis, Floyd Lawrence and Dexter Cyrus.
Real West Indies: Wavell Hinds (captain), Dave Mohammed, Pedro Collins, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Richard Smith, Mervyn Dillon, Keno Mason, David Williams, Lendl Simmons, Chris Dehring, Ian Bradshaw, Dwight Washington and Courtney Walsh.
Referee: Ramesh Ramdan.