Watchful TKR squeeze past the Tridents

Hero Caribbean Premier League 2018…

Barbados Tridents (BT) recovered from a marvelous opening over from Khary Pierre but still were not able to hold off defending champions, Trinibago Knight Riders (TKR), from securing victory on Sunday evening at the Kengsinton Oval.

After electing to bat first on home turf, Tridents survived a top order rocking to crawl to 128 – 8 in their 20 overs, a target which proved somewhat challenging for the visitors, who eventually won by four wickets in the 18th Hero Caribbean Premier League fixture of the season.
With 129 set to win, Knight Riders were expected to begin pursuit quite confidently but when Chris Lynn (8) and Sunil Narine (13) were dismissed by Mohammad Irfan and Ashley Nurse bowled Colin Munro for 14, it looked like Tridents were back in the game for a moment.
However, Brendon McCullum’s defiant knock of 66 kept the Tridents in check and earned him the man of the match. Darren Bravo (2) also went cheaply while Denesh Ramdin (20) and McCullum almost survived to the end, both being removed with the score on 126, 3 runs short of victory.

Skipper Dwayne Bravo drilled Steve Smith through cover for a boundary to bring the match to a close as TKR reach 130 – 6.
In Tridents’ bowling effort, Irfan led with two wickets while Nurse, Raymon Reifer, Shamar Springer and Smith had a wicket each.
Pierre, was all over the scoreboard following the conclusion of a very eventful opening over to his spell. Dwayne Smith was bowled for two on the first ball, Shamar Springer was runout by a brilliant piece of fielding from Pierre without scoring the next ball then Steve Smith misjudged ball-four and was stumped by Denesh Ramdin.

Tridents, with 3 – 3 on the board were saved by a recovery effort from Nicholas Pooran (34) and Shai Hope (42), who decide to open the batting.
Pooran’s quick-fire innings lasted 21-balls as he picked up two sixes and three boundaries before being bowled by the Trinbago captain. Even though the runs kept coming, wickets kept falling at regular intervals which impeded the run rate.
Hope’s missed out on his half century when Fawad Ahmed struck on the first ball of the 13th over as Tridents’ score ticked over to 90 – 5.
The skipper, Jason Holder contributed a welcomed 30 even though he was striking at under 100. Raymon Reifer (10) was the only other batsman to reach double figures while Pierre, Bravo and Ahmed each had two wickets and Ali Khan, just one.