Hyderabad, Sep 20: Trinidad and Tobago have qualified for the group stage of Nokia Champions League Twenty20 with a commanding performance over the Leicestershire Foxes. The Caribbean franchise routed the Leics by 51 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here in Uppal to storm into the main competition.

Where the T and T batsmen stuttered to a five-wicket win against Ruhunu Eleven yesterday, their opening batsmen, Adrian Barath and Lendl Simmons, took control of proceedings in style today. The two batsmen hammered the Leicestershire bowlers into submission as the first 50 runs came up in 6.4 overs while the 100-run mark was raised in 12.2 overs.

In all, Barath and Simmons combined for a 139-run stand for the opening wicket with both batsmen scoring brisk half centuries (Barath 62 off 47; Simmons 67 off 58). Leicestershire had to wait until the 18th over for a wicket to fall when left-arm pacer Harry Gurney removed both Barath and Simmons off consecutive deliveries. T and T ended their innings at 168 as Darren Bravo (18 off nine) and Denesh Ramdin (11 off seven) remained unbeaten.

Leicestershire hardly ever looked like chasing T and T’s score down. Pacer Ravi Rampaul and legbreak bowler Samuel Badree split the Foxes’ first four wickets between them while offspinner Sunil Narine had Paul Nixon trapped lbw to leave Leicestershire wobbling at 20 for five in 5.4 overs.

James Taylor, batting at No. 5, showed some fight with an unbeaten half-century (56 not out) but with Abdul Razzaq (21 off 20) falling to Kevin Cooper and Rampaul taking two wickets at the end, the Foxes finished their innings 51-runs short of the victory target.

Having qualified for the group stage of the event, T and T now take on Mumbai Indians at Bengaluru on September 26 at 8:00 pm IST. Leicestershire Foxes, meanwhile, will take on Ruhunu Eleven at 4:00 pm (IST) tomorrow; both teams still have a chance to make it to the group stage.

Brief scores: Trinidad and Tobago 168/2 in 20.0 overs (Adrian Barath 62, Lendl Simmons 67, Harry Gurney 2/33) beat Leicestershire Foxes 117/9 in 20.0 overs (James Taylor 56 not out, Ravi Rampaul 4/17, Samuel Badree 2/7) by 51 runs

Man-of-the-Match: Adrian Barath for a feisty 62 off 47 runs at the top of the order for T and T