Kieron Pollard held his nerve during the final over to take the Barbados Tridents to a comfortable 14-run win over the Guyana Amazon Warriors in match 27 of the Hero CPL T20 tournament played at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence last evening.
Pollard, who bagged 4-30 from his four overs, calmly defended the 24 runs the Warriors needed to score in the final over, picking up the wickets of Chris Barnwell who made 24 off 13 balls and David Wiese (07).
Barnwell smashed the first ball of the final over for six down the ground, followed by a shot for two. The third ball rocked the stumps of Barnwell who walked off in disappointment. The final three deliveries yielded a run from Sunil Narine, the wicket of Wiese and a dot ball, which brought an end to the innings as Guyana ended on 111 for 6 in 20 overs, keeping their second place on the points table.
Barbados were earlier restricted to 125-9 in their 20 overs after Wiese scythed through the batting line-up, acquiring figures of 4-0-30-5. Support came from leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo (2-23) while there was one wicket each from Veerasammy Permaul and South African Merchant de Lange.
Fast-bowler Jason Holder spanked 30 from 17 balls with two fours and as many sixes while Emrit chipped in with a run-a-ball 21, ending as the two top-scorers for the Tridents.
Hodge (27), who was promoted to open with Lendl Simmons (15), began his innings in brisk manner as the two right-handers took the Warriors to a good opening stand of 43 before Khan struck in the 10th over to remove Hodge who played the cut shot well but misread a delivery from the leg-spinner and chopped it on to his stumps.
Some team-work from the Trinidadians Pollard the bowler and Khan the fielder at deep backward-point who took a diving catch to get rid of their countryman Simmons who fell shortly after his partner, leaving the Warriors on 45-2 after 11 overs.
Khan’s final over of his spell was taken for 10 by Akmal who swatted the leg-spinner for six over long-on followed by a four down the ground as the Warriors required 60-odd from the last six overs. After surviving an appeal for caught behind off Pollard, the Akmal then played a booming punch but was caught by Dwayne Smith at the deep cover boundary.
Chris Barnwell then walked out to the middle to join his skipper Denesh Ramdin (13) who threw it away in the 17th over when he was outfoxed by his country-man Emrit and was caught inside the ring by Misbah ul-Haq. Earlier, Wiese ripped through the top-order with his swing and variation, removing openers Dwayne Smith (14) and American Steven Taylor (13) in his first over. Smith opened his account with a punch for four through the off-side off de Lange’s first over and was looking to repeat his trademark short-arm jab for six which he played a few balls before being caught at long-off by Akmal.
Taylor, who struck the first six of the innings off Permaul, attempted another aggressive shot which found a top edge and was caught by Ramdin and seven balls later, the South African seamer picked up his third wicket when left-hander Johnathan Carter nicked an out-swinger into the gloves of the skipper, leaving the Tridents in trouble at 37-3 inside seven overs.
Bishoo dealt two quick blows to the Tridents, first removing Robin Peterson (13) who raised the Tridents 50 with a slog-sweep for six followed by a reverse sweep-paddle for four before he was bowled and Misbah whose painstaking 17-ball 6 came to an end when he was caught a short-gully by Assad Fudadin.
Pollard (02) came to the crease with his team in loads of trouble with the score 57 for 5 from 12 overs, his partner at the time, Holder smashed Permaul for a flat six over extra-cover but the
left-arm spinner got his revenge when the Tridents skipper had his off-stump knocked over after he sought to come down the track a few balls later and was beaten by some spin.
The 100 came in 18.1 overs and Holder continued his power hitting, this time launching Wiese miles into the stand which was immediately followed up by a brutal slash through back-ward point. His aggressive approach then caused him to implode and was caught inside the ring on the off-side by Narine.
Akmal completed another good catch when Emrit succumbed to Wiese who picked up his fifth wicket of the innings, also putting himself on a hat-trick which was negated by a single by Nurse. The final over saw a no-ball from de Lange being carted for six by Nurse who was then caught at deep third-man fielder, Hodge.
Khan then squeezed the final ball through the slip cordon for four, bringing the Tridents innings to an end. The final match is Red on Tuesday evening against the Trinidad Red Steel
Scoreboard
Barbados Tridents
D Smith c Umar Akmal b Wiese 14
S Taylor† c †Ramdin b Wiese 13
Misbah-ul-Haq c Fudadin b Bishoo 6
J Carter c †Ramdin b Wiese 7
R Peterson b Bishoo 13
K Pollard* b Permaul 2
J Holder c Narine b Wiese 30
R Emrit c Umar Akmal b Wiese 21
A Nurse c Hodge b de Lange 7
R Rampaul not out 5
I Khan not out 1
Extras (lb 3, w 1, nb 2) 6
Total (9 wickets; 20 overs) 125
Fall of wickets 1-24 (Taylor), 2-30 (Smith), 3-37 (Carter), 4-56 (Peterson), 5-57 (Misbah-ul-Haq), 6-65 (Pollard), 7-110 (Holder), 8-110 (Emrit), 9-119 (Nurse)
Bowling: De Lange 4-0-28-1,Permaul 4-0-27-1, Wiese 4-0-30-5, Bishoo 4-0-23-2, Narine 4-1-14-0
Guyana Amazon Warriors
L Simmons c Khan b Pollard 15
B Hodge b Khan 27
D Ramdin*† c Misbah-ul-Haq b Emrit 14
Umar Akmal c Smith b Pollard 20
C Barnwell b Pollard 24
D Wiese c Smith b Pollard 7
S Narine not out 1
V Permaul not out 0
Extras (w 3) 3
Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 111
Did not bat:AB Fudadin, M de Lange, D Bishoo
Fall of wickets 1-43 (Hodge), 2-45 (Simmons), 3-73 (Umar Akmal), 4-82 (Ramdin), 5-110 (Barnwell), 6-111 (Wiese)
Bowling: Emrit 4-0-20-1, Peterson 4-0-16-0, Rampaul 4-0-23-0, I Khan 4-0-22-1- Pollard 4-0-30-4.
Result: Tridents won by 14 runs
Points: Tridents 2, Warriors 0.
Player-of-the-match- Rayad Emrit
Toss: Tridents
Umpires: P Gustard , J Ward – tv N Shivsankar
