BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Captain Kieron Pollard starred with bat and ball as Barbados Tridents made a winning start to the defence of the Caribbean Premier League crown with a convincing 49-run victory over Guyana Amazon Warriors here Saturday night.
In what was a replay of last year’s final, Tridents tallied 158 for six at Kensington Oval, with Pollard blasting a top score of 48 off 26 balls and Pakistani Shoaib Malik supporting with 39 from 35 deliveries.
Left-hander Jonathan Carter stroked 25 from 21 balls in support while off-spinner Sunil Narine claimed two for 22.
In reply, Amazon Warriors crashed to 21 for three in the fourth over and knocks of 26 from Australian Brad Hodge and 24 from Sri Lankan opener Tillakaratne Dilshan were not enough to rescue to the visitors, as they finished on 109 all out off 18 overs.
Seamer Ravi Rampaul picked up three for 16 while South African left-arm spinner Robin Peterson claimed three for 31.
Pollard proved instrumental with his slow medium, grabbing two for 19 – including the key wicket of Dilshan – from four stingy overs.
The victory put to rest lingering debate over last year’s final, which finished in controversial circumstances after Tridents won the rain-hit affair at Warner Park.
There was little doubt this time around, however.
Opting to bat first, Tridents slipped to 23 for two in the fifth over when Sri Lankan Dilshan Munaweera was bowled by left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul for six in the fourth over and Dwayne Smith was run out for 13 in the following over, after slipping and failing to regain his ground as he explored a single.
Shoaib and Carter arrested the slide by adding 44 for the third wicket, with Carter attacking with three sixes in his knock and the right-handed Shoaib hitting two fours in a patient innings.
When Carter perished in the deep off Narine in the 11th over, Tridents were then propelled by a fourth wicket partnership of 56 between Shoaib and Pollard.
The right-handed Pollard was in crisp form, cracking five fours and two sixes and dominating the stand, to take Tridents past the 100-run mark.
He lost Shoaib in the 11th over, missing a big swing at Narine to be stumped by captain Denesh Ramdin but added a further 19 off 11 balls with Jason Holder (1) before falling via the run out route in the penultimate over. Navin Stewart hammered two massive sixes in scoring 13 not out to give the hosts impetus at the end.
Amazon Warriors were in early trouble when Lendl Simmons was run out for one in the second over and veteran left-hander Shiv Chanderpaul skied a catch to Rayad Emrit off seamer Holder for four in the third over.
When Ramdin fell without scoring in the following over, the visitors were in danger of falling apart but Dilshan and Hodge put on 35 to consolidate the innings.
With the required run rate climbing, Dilshan holed out to Akeal Hosein in the deep off Pollard at 56 for four, sparking a collapse that saw the last seven wickets collapse for just 53 runs.
