Trinidad & Tobago 300-5 Bermuda 116 A polished century from captain Brian Lara inspired champions Trinidad & Tobago to a crushing 184-run win over Bermuda in this opening Red Stripe Bowl match at Chedwin Park in St. Catherine's on Saturday.

Lara struck 110 from 112 balls as he and Phil Simmons (59) rescued the team from the blushing position of 71 for three, albeit after 13-plus overs.

The pair put on 153 runs in 27 overs, effectively taking the match beyond Bermuda's grasp. Affairs were later turned over to Mervyn Dillon who claimed four for 21 from 10 overs of express pace, including the first three to tear the heart out of Bermuda's batting.

Still, it all may have ended so differently had umpire Thomas Wilson upheld a run-out appeal against star batsman Lara.

The elegant left-hander was hardly in his stride when he took on Del Hollis' arm at the bowler's end for a second run. When skipper Arnold Manders whipped off the bails, Lara still appeared to be struggling to make his ground but Wilson was unmoved.

To be competitive with a power the like of Trinidad & Tobago, those were the kind of breaks Bermuda needed.

Lara also offered a half-chance to a diving Albert Steede at short extra cover but his left hand could only manage to take the pace off a stinging drive against Manders.

Simmons was the dominant batsman during the early stages of the match-winning partnership with some authoritative driving a feature.

The big man brought up his half-century with a monstrous six over square leg off a Manders full toss and that seemed to spur Lara into a more aggressive mode. He soon passed Simmons with consecutive boundaries off Janeiro Tucker and then left him some 30-odd runs behind in typical Lara fashion.

Simmons, who was kept away from the strike for long periods, finally gave away his hand while trying to whip Herbie Bascome over mid-wicket. He only succeeded in getting a leading edge that Manders judged well at short third man. Simmons struck three fours and two sixes from 74 balls.

Lara found a useful partner in Richard Smith before he fell to Del Hollis, trying to go over the long-on boundary. Lionel Cann took a good catch, ending an innings which was laced with 11 fours and a six.

If Bermuda thought the carnage would end there at 253 for five with five overs left, they were mistaken for Smith (44 not out) and David Williams (16 not out) made certain the 300 would be posted.

Smith survived a chance at mid-wicket when Cann appeared overly relaxed trying to take a catch simpler than the one Lara offered.

A clean striker of the ball, Smith brought up the 300 with a superb straight drive for six off Bascome.

Lara lashes Bermuda From Page 19 Earlier, Suruj Ragoonath got off to a quick start against Bascome in particular before he was trapped in front by Blades for 24, Darren Ganga was run out by Tucker for 13 and Lionel Roberts was comprehensively bowled by an Anthony Amory yorker. Blades finished with one for 44 from nine overs while Amory, who surprisingly was not returned after one loose over, took one for 23 from seven, Bascome one for 59 from eight and off-spinner Hollis one for 65 from 10.

Dillon confirmed Trinidad's dominant status with a wicket in his second over and two in his fourth as Bermuda were quickly 21 for three.

With Amory complaining of exhaustion, the Bermuda batting line-up was forced into a change with wicketkeeper Donald Norford required to open with Albert Steede while Dexter Basden, Clay Smith and Amory all moved down one.

Nevertheless they all saw action quickly from the moment Lara snapped Norford up at second slip for one. Basden looked confident early on but just when it seemed that he had settled after straight-driving Dillon for four, his deficiency of getting on the front foot too early was exposed.

The result: a catch taken low down by wicketkeeper Williams and Basden was gone for five. The very next ball Smith was out lbw to an atrocious shot across the line to a full length delivery.

Amory broke up the hat-trick with an effortless push through the cover point region for two but he became the fourth wicket to fall, not playing a stroke to the wily Rajindra Dhanraj and adjudged lbw by Test umpire Steve Bucknor.

Thirty for four quickly became 40 for five after Janeiro Tucker (eight) played a wild slog at Dhanraj and gave Hazel a comfortable catch at wide mid-on.

The first sense of normalcy during the innings came when Manders arrived and he and Steede went about the business of righting the ship against some tight bowling from Dhanraj and Hazel.

Then on came Ian Bishop and what followed was the most spectacular dismissal of the match.

Having made a well-played 33 from 71 balls, Steede played back to the Test quickie and saw his centre stump take flight.

This was what the sparse crowd had come to see, and they were not to be disappointed as Dillon returned at the northern end.

Bishop, at 78 for six, knocked back Manders' off stump after the Bermuda captain had made 19, and 20 runs later Cann's leg stump did a disappearing act when Dillon caught the all-rounder moving too far inside.

By now, Blades was in the midst of a face-saving rearguard action which was especially harsh of Phil Simmons during an innings of 27. In one spell, he hit Simmons for a four and six off consecutive balls but the bowler eventually came out on top with Ganga taking a superb catch running in from long-off.

Bascome's first innings for Bermuda only lasted one ball but his introduction was something not to be forgotten. As the only dreadlocked player on either side, Bascome was ushered onto the pitch by the opening verses from the song "Time Will Tell''. But umpire Bucknor was not impressed, ending the match when Bascome failed to get a bat onto a Simmons full toss and was adjudged lbw.