Battered Stars run into hungry Tridents

Hero Caribbean Premier League 2018 …

Fresh off a red-hot win over the in-form Guyana Amazon Warriors, the Barbados Tridents now turn their attention to hosts St Lucia Stars in match 10 of the summer’s Biggest Party which continues tonight from 21:00h.
After Shai Hope led a ruthless assault in the last of three opening games at Providence versus the Guyana Amazon Warriors, Tridents now enter tonight’s game with some form and fire and with the Stars snatching defeat from the jaws of victory last night in match nine against defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR); the visitors could start as favourites.
The Warriors were unbeaten after their first two games at home before Hope, Raymon Reifer and company managed to hand the three-time finalists their first loss of the season. Hope showed his class as a power-hitter as well as a touch player as his 88 consisted of six fours and six sixes, leading the tridents batting charge.
Running into the Stars at home at the Darren Sammy National Stadium in St Lucia, Tridents will need to put on the same show as they did in their only match to date, with their batting putting pressure on the opposition. Apart from Hope, former Aussie skipper Steven Smith found his feet with a classy 41 while explosive wicket-keeper/batsman Nicholas Pooran provided the late cluster of boundaries that took the game away from the Warriors in front of a sold out Providence.
With a strong middle/lower-order, Tridents will now just need their two heavy-hitters at the top of the order in; Dwayne Smith and Martin Guptill to fire, after they missed out against the Amazon Warriors. Another key player for the Tridents is Raymon Reifer, the hero of their last game along with Hope.
The Windies seamer bagged 5 for 20 against Guyana Amazon Warriors, flexing his muscles as one of the frontline left-arm seam bowlers in the Caribbean. His skill could again play a huge role, especially with the Stars struggling slightly against quality bowling. Also, the threat of the towering Pakistani pacer Mohammad Irfan, his countryman left-arm quick Wahab Riaz, Holder and off-spinner Ashley Nurse, make the Tridents bowling unit a force to be reckon with.
In the other camp, it has been rough going so far for the Kieron Pollard-led Stars who have lost all four of their matches so far this season and have now gone 15 games without winning a streak that began in 2016.
After losing to defending champs Trinbago Knight Riders in the first game, the Stars suffered defeats at the hands of the Warriors, Jamaica Tallawahs and again to TKR after failing to defend 212/2 last night.
While their talented team have not yet clicked, it is still early in the tournament and with the immense talent in the side, the Stars could just pull off a heist tonight that could see a change in fortunes. Batting-wise, St Lucia has seen glimpses of something from a few of their batters with Pollard, David Warner, Rahkeem Cornwall, opener Andre Fletcher, Lendl Simmons and former captain Darren Sammy being among the consistent contributors of runs to date.
Simmons is one of the leading run-getters in the tournament and seems to be in some good hitting form batting down the order. Fletcher has warmed up with some starts but could do something.
Despite a few woes in the batting department, the Stars will feel more confident bowling to the Tridents as they possess a bevy of world-class operators of the ball although they failed to deliver the knockout punch against TKR on Thursday. Afghan leg-spinner Qais Ahmad who grabbed 3-15 against Guyana but did not bowl against TKR while T20 bowling specialists like Kiwi pacer Mitchell McCleneghan and rookie pacer Obed McCoy; could be a handful at Gros Islet.
The Tridents have the clear advantage heading into this match, having broken the Warriors unbeaten streak, a team who seem to be one of the more cohesive teams thus far in the tournament as well as their 2-nil track record against the St Lucia franchise coming off of last 2017 season where they beat them 21 and 29 runs, respectively. (Clifton Ross)