Hero Caribbean Premier League…
– Tridents continue to whither
The St Lucia Stars may have one of the slimmest chances of hope to advance to the next round, but they ended their preliminary round — and what could also be the end to their season — with a victory over the luckless Barbados Tridents at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
Tridents had yet another disappointing show with the bat, posting 135-7. Stars reached 136-4 with 3.3 overs to spare, in process condemning the Bajan side to their fourth straight home defeat.
Kieron Pollard’s side have now completed all prelim matches; winning three, losing six and claiming a point from a no-result. They are tied with St Kitts and Nevis Patriots for fourth, with seven points, but the Patriots are ahead by a superior net run rate (NRR) and have two matches remaining in this round.
On Sunday in Bridgetown, the home side lost the toss and were put to bat, but wickets kept falling at regular intervals, so the run rate never had a real chance to be boosted. The Tridents were forced to play without Steven Smith, whose season was ended by injury.
The chase started pretty gusty, with Rahkeem Cornwall and Andre Fletcher having a go at Imran Khan, who went for 17 in the first over. But Tridents struck right back through Mohammad Irfan, who backed Fletcher (5) up for his first two deliveries, then outfoxed him with a deceptive slower ball which he flicked, got a leading edge, and was caught at mid-off.
Guyanese Chanderpaul Hemraj replaced Fletcher, and impressed around the ground with a solid knock of 36 from 27 balls. Cornwall fell shortly after, going for a big one off Irfan, but being caught by Nicholas Pooran behind the stumps for 18.
Hemraj and David Warner paired at 24 – 2, and featured in a 56-run partnership which was broken when Holder uprooted Hemraj’s off-stump with a full delivery that sneaked under the bat. He laced that innings with three sixes and an equal number of fours.
The very next ball, Pollard was caught leg-before-wicket in a controversial first ball decision by the umpire, and the Stars were 80-4.
However, needing 56 from 60 balls, with Warner and Lendl Simmons at the crease, the experience was enough to comfortably get them over the line. Warner (42) and Simmons (24) were both left unbeaten.
Earlier in the day, Dwayne Smith (16) was the first to depart following the two boundaries and a maximum he blasted. Then Martin Guptil (9) hit one over the fence and was dismissed not long after, both caught at mid-off and mid-on respectively.
While Hashim Amla (35) kept the board ticking over, Shai Hope (2) got a leading edge off Christopher Lamont, who completed a marvellous caught-and-bowled feat, adding to his second wicket after drawing first blood.
Shamar Springer (17) and Nicholas Pooran (14) got starts, but were both striking at under 100 before they lost their wickets to Obed McCoy and Kesrick Williams respectively. Tridents were 83-4 with seven overs left to play.
Amla was then run out by a brilliant piece of work by McCoy, who sent him packing with a direct hit. Then Holder departed for six to a lovely change of pace from McCoy, who now had his second wicket.
With 107-4 on the board, a spirited effort from Ashley Nurse (14*) and Khan (12*) pushed the Tridents to what proved to be too low a score to defend.
SCORECOARD
Barbados Tridents Innings (20 overs maximum)
DR Smith c Smith b Lamont 16
MJ Guptill c Pollard b Williams 9
HM Amla run out (McCoy) 35
SD Hope c & b Lamont 2
SK Springer c Williams b McCoy 17
N Pooran † c Lamont b Williams 14
JO Holder (c) c Pollard b McCoy 6
AR Nurse not out 14
I Khan not out 12
Extras 10 (lb 4, nb 2, w 4)
TOTAL 135-7 (20 Overs, RR: 6.75)
Did not bat: Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan
Fall of wickets: 1-19 (DR Smith, 2.2 ov), 2-27 (MJ Guptill, 3.4 ov), 3-50 (SD Hope, 6.3 ov), 4-83 (SK Springer, 12.6 ov), 5-96 (HM Amla, 14.4 ov), 6-107 (JO Holder, 16.6 ov), 7-107 (N Pooran, 17.1 ov)
BOWLING: C Lamont (4-0-21-2), OF Smith (2-0-19-0), KOK Williams (4-0-32-2), RRS Cornwall (4-0-26-0), C Hemraj (2-0-9-0), OC McCoy (4-0-24-2)
St Lucia Stars Innings (target: 136 runs from 20 overs)
ADS Fletcher † c Holder b Mohammad Irfan 5
RRS Cornwall c †Pooran b Mohammad Irfan 18
C Hemraj b Holder 37
DA Warner not out
KA Pollard (c) lbw b Holder 0
LMP Simmons not out 24
Extras 10 (lb 5, w 5)
TOTAL 136-4 (17.3 Overs, RR: 7.77)
Yet to bat: DJG Sammy, OF Smith, OC McCoy, C Lamont, KOK Williams
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (ADS Fletcher, 1.3 ov), 2-24 (RRS Cornwall, 3.3 ov), 3-80 (C Hemraj, 9.5 ov), 4-80 (KA Pollard, 9.6 ov)
BOWLING: I Khan (2-0-24-0), Mohammad Irfan (4-1-22-2), Wahab Riaz (4-0-18-0), AR Nurse (2-0-30-0), JO Holder (3.3-0-25-2), SK Springer (2-0-12-0)
