Stanford Superstars began the Stanford Super Series with a victory over Caribbean 20-over champions Trinidad & Tobago after initial discomfort threatened a shock.

The representative team's batting suffered from the absence of captain Chris Gayle and the consistent Shivnarine Chanderpaul but a score of 146 for five proved sufficient.

The Superstars claimed the inaugural contest of a five-year commitment by 22 runs as their superior class with the ball told.

First, stand-in skipper Sylvester Joseph revived the Superstars innings after a sluggish beginning and the extra firepower of Test pacemen Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell meant an inexperienced Trinidad team succumbed after a brief fight.

After some early-innings bluster from William Perkins, who hit the ball with tremendous power in pulling boundaries off both Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell - rasping a cover-drive to the ropes off the latter in the fourth over - the fours dried up.

Lendl Simmons was ousted first ball when Jerome Taylor sent down a first-over delivery of extra bounce.

Perkins was then spectacularly yorked by giant left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn as early-innings momentum faltered.

When captain Daren Ganga chipped tamely to long-on, Trinidad were 56 for three at the halfway stage.

It took some hard hitting from debutant Navin Stewart, including two towering blows into the stands, to address the situation.

But Stewart's luck and ultimately that of his team ran out when, the next ball after being dropped at deep midwicket, he was well held at long-on off wrist-spinner Dave Mohammed.

Soon afterwards top-scorer Justin Guillen holed out off fast bowler Daren Powell and any chance of an upset had gone.

Although the explosive left-hander Gayle was at the 6,000-capacity ground and took a part in the warm-ups with the rest of the squad, he sat out due to family issues which he believed would effect his concentration.

Chanderpaul was absent with a reported stiff neck, joining fellow West Indies international Dwayne Bravo (ankle) on the sidelines.

So it was left to Joseph to provide a stagnant start with impetus, hitting a rapid, unbeaten 45, including two of his team's six sixes.

Trinidad, who face Middlesex for the £250,000 Stanford domestic title on Monday, surprised neutral observers when captain Ganga threw the new ball to leg-spinner Samuel Badree.

The policy worked to stunning effect, however, as the Superstars top order struggled to get the ball away on a slow surface.

Openers Andre Fletcher and Travis Dowlin had shared just 34 runs, in fact, when they were separated in the eighth over.

Having lofted Badree for six in the previous over, Fletcher perished attempting a repeat when failing to clear long-off.

When former West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, a Trinidad player, was undone by a googly first ball, the innings was under threat of implosion.

Although Badree claimed the successes, Ravi Rampaul was also key in quelling the early flow of runs with a spell of 3-0-9-0.

But Dowlin's innings was boosted with the arrival of Joseph, who kickstarted the run rate with some powerful hitting and good running.

Dowlin took advantage of being dropped at long-off in the ninth over, when he was on just 10, to share a 55-run stand with Joseph in seven overs.

He succumbed when he skied an attempted big hit to extra cover off spinner Rishi Bachan, one of four Trinidad players making their Twenty20 debuts.

A frantic final 10 overs resulted in 96 runs and also included the first voluntary consultation between the on-field umpires and a TV colleague.

The use of TV technology is a feature of this series and the incident came in the 18th over when Steve Davis was unsure on an appeal for a leg-side catch against all-rounder Kieron Pollard - he asked for the assistance of Rudi Koertzen and the batsman was deemed not out.

Pollard was one of two dismissals in the following over, however, after hitting a quickfire 24.