Petrotrin powered their way into today's Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board PowerPlay Twenty20 franchise tournament final with a five-wicket win over Carib Bears at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain on Friday night.

Former West Indies Under-19 batsman Evin Lewis was at the centre of the victory, slamming the first half century of the tournament—52 off 38 balls--as Petrotrin reached 127 for five off 18.4 overs in reply to Carib's 123 all out in 20 overs.

Carib skipper Adrian Barath, who took over the captaincy of the franchise from Samuel Badree who was drafted into the West Indies A team, won the toss and elected to bat first but his charges wasted a good start to be dismissed for a below par score.

Barath led from the front with his 41-ball 46, while Imran Khan kept his skipper company for the opening 30 minutes of the match as they put on a 51-run stand for the first wicket.

The partnership ended in the eighth over when Khan was dismissed by his Alescon Comets teammate Daren Ganga for 23.

The Petrotrin skipper, Daren Ganga then took a good catch to send back his brother Sherwin off the bowling of Dave Mohammed as Carib slipped to 60 for three in the 11th over.

Four wickets from Barbados import Kevin Stoute, including two in the 18th over, ensured that Carib were contained in the last five overs which cost just 35 runs with the last six wickets going down.

Lewis then ensured the momentum stayed with Petrotrin.

He hit four fours and three sixes in his top-score as he took on the role of aggressor in a 71-run partnership for the second wicket with Lincoln Roberts, who, after hitting a Sherwin Ganga ball for six over deep midwicket to get off the mark, assumed a supporting role with a patient 18 off 26 balls.

Both batmen were eventually dismissed within three balls of each other but Petrotrin were already on course for victory.

Lewis sent a catch to Strassark Sankar off leg-spinner Khan off the fourth ball of the 11th over, while Roberts was sent on his way by umpire Kellman Kowlessar as he was trapped lbw by Jamaican left-arm spinner Nikita Miller off the first ball of the 12th over. By then the score had already progressed to 74.

The Petrotrin skipper Daren Ganga failed to make a big impact with the bat and was back in the pavilion after just 13 minutes in the middle.

Daren Ganga was bowled Khan for eight with the score on 85 before Yannick Ottley (24 off 22 balls) and Daron Cruickshank (12 off eight balls) shared an unbroken 22-run stand to bring home the win with Cruickshank blasting a six off Miller to end the match with eight balls to spare.

Petrotrin will now face Angostura White Oak in the tournament final at the Oval from 2:30 p.m. today ahead of the second unofficial T20I between West Indies A and India A which bowls off at 7 p.m. at the same venue.

Carib were in action against Trini Posse in the third place play-off at the Oval yesterday.

The PowerPlay T20 winners will pocket $30,000 and the runners up will get $15,000. The third place and fourth place team will get $8,000 and $3,000 respectively.

SCOREBOARD TTCB PowerPlay T20 Carib Bears vs Petrotrin Carib Bears Inns A Barath c Allert b Stoute 46 I Khan c D Cruickshank b D Ganga 23 R Chandrika run out 1 S Ganga c D Ganga b D Mohammed 2 T Castro c D Ganga b Y Ottley 12 A Cooper C&B Stoute 10 N Miller run out 13 A Alfred c wkpr Celestine b Stoute 0 R Harris b Stoute 4 D Krishna not out 3 S Sankar run out 1 Extras: (W7) 7 TOTAL: (all out ; 20 overs) 123 Fall of wickets: 51 (Khan), 53 (Chandrika), 60 (S Ganga), 85 (Castro), 92 (Barath), 104 (Cooper), 106 (Alfred), 118 (Miller), 120 (Harris), 123 (Sankar) BOWLING: Cruickshank 2-0-17-0 (1w); Allert 2-0-18-0 (1w); Ottley 4-0-26-1 (2w); D Ganga 4-0-16-1; Mohammed 4-0-16-1; Stoute 4-0-29-4 (3w) Petrotrin Inns E Lewis c Sankar b Khan 52 M Belcon c wkp Alfred b Miller 0 L Roberts lbw Miller 18 D Ganga b Khan 6 Y Ottley not out 24 K Stoute c Krishna b Khan 9 D Cruickshank not out 12 Extras (LB1, W4) 5 TOTAL (for five 5 wickets ; 18.4 overs) 127 Did not bat: Allert, Mohammed, Kelly, Celestine Fall of wickets: 1 (Belcon), 72 (Roberts), 74 (Lewis), 85 (D Ganga), 101 (Stoute) BOWLING: 3.4-0-19-2 (1w); S Ganga 4-0-27-0 (1w); Sankar 2-0-17-0; Krishna 4-0-25-0 (1w); Castro 1-0-15-0; Khan 4-0-23-3 (1w) Toss: Won by Carib Bears who elected to bat first Result: Petrotrin won by five wickets Man of the Match: Evin Lewis (Petrotrin) Umpires: K Kowlessar and A Creed Stand By: A Nedd Match Referee: R Lutchman