BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC– A sensational half century from promising Nicholas Pooran gave Barbados Tridents a kick-start and set the stage for their 25 run win over St. Lucia Zouks in game 18 of the Caribbean Premier League here on Sunday.
Pooran hammered a career best 81 from 39 balls as Tridents surged to 173 for five before a team effort stemmed the run chase and restricted Zouks to 148 for eight when the overs ran out.
The 20-year-old Pooran impressed the Kensington oval crowd with an array of shots while dominating two partnerships with two of the world’s leading cricket super stars, AB de Villiers who chimed in with 32 from 22 balls and Kieron Pollard.
Andre Fletcher top-scored for the Zouks with 20 and several others player got starts but wickets fell throughout the chase.
Tridents, who have recorded their third win of the season , are in third position on seven points behind Jamaica Tallawahs on nine and top-of-the-table Guyana Amazon Warriors on 10 points .
Zouks, have one win from four matches and curently occupy the cellar position on two points.
Zouks succeeded in restricting the Tridents run flow in the first few overs after they won the toss and decided to field.
Tridents crawled to 28 without loss in the PowerPlay before openers Shoaib Malik and Kyle Hope fell skying catches in the space of five balls of each other.
Tridents were able to revive from 52 for two after losing Hope and Malik for 28 and 15 respectively, and soon the Pooran show began to set Kensington Oval ablaze.
In an explosively attractive batting display, the young Trinidad and Tobago wicketkeeper batsman unleashed a performance that overshadowed the presence of his team senior batting partners, de Villiers and Kieron Pollard.
He struck nine fours and four sixes, stamping his authority on a 40 ball 68 run stand for third wicket with de Villiers and stealing the show from Pollard in a 49 run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Pooran, who missed last year’s CPL as a result of a leg injury sustained from a car crash , survived two chances when he was dropped on 58 and then on 80.
He brought up his half century in style when he hit Kyle Mayers for a six.
Pooran punished Shane Watson by taking 20 runs off him in the 18th over, smashing three consecutive boundaries followed by a six.
Former West Indies pacer Jerome Taylor making his season debut as a replacement player was the best bowler for Zouks, finishing with two wickets for 27 runs including the scalp of de Villiers who cleared the ropes a ball before his demise.
Johnson Charles and Fletcher gave Zouks an encouraging start to the chase by making 29 runs from the first 20 balls before they dug themselves into a hole when the two openers fell within seven balls of each other.
Zouks stumbled to sixty for four half way through the innings but when Mike Hussey was dismissed off the last ball of the 13th over and Darren Sammy was bowled off the first ball of the 14th the game ended as a contest.
Captain Darren Sammy and Kyle Mayers each scored 18 while Hussey scored 17 and Jerome Taylor was unbeaten on 17 after an entertaining cameo that included a four and a six.
Ravi Rampaul and Wayne Parnell led the attack that curb the Zouks chase, taking two for 22 and two for 27.
Scoreboard
Barbados Tridents
KA Hope c Hussey b Davis 28
Shoaib Malik c Taylor b Shillingford 15
AB de Villiers c Sammy b Taylor 32
N Pooran† run out (†Fletcher) 81
KA Pollard* c sub (GD Elliott) b Taylor 6
WD Parnell not out 0
ND Stewart not out 4
Extras (lb 2, w 5) 7
Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 173
To bat RJ Peterson, RA Reifer, I Khan, R Rampaul
Fall of wickets 1-44 (Shoaib Malik, 7.4 ov), 2-51 (Hope, 8.4 ov), 3-119 (de Villiers, 15.2 ov), 4-168 (Pollard, 18.6 ov), 5-169 (Pooran, 19.3 ov)
Morkel 4-0-25-0 (1w), Taylor 4-0-27-2(2w), Watson 4-0-37-0, Mayers 2-0-23-0,Shillingford 3-0-28-1(1w),Davis 3-0-31-1(1w)
St Lucia Zouks
J Charles st †Pooran b Peterson 8
ADS Fletcher† c Shoaib Malik b Rampaul 20
SR Watson b Rampaul 0
MEK Hussey b Stewart 17
DA Miller b Shoaib Malik 11
DJG Sammy* b Reifer 18
KR Mayers c Pollard b Parnell 18
DYA Davis b Parnell 6
S Shillingford not out 13
JE Taylor not out 17
Extras (b 4, lb 5, w 11) 20
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 148
Did not bat M Morkel
Fall of wickets 1-29 (Charles, 3.3 ov), 2-33 (Watson, 4.4 ov), 3-40 (Fletcher, 6.4 ov), 4-60 (Miller, 9.5 ov), 5-84 (Hussey, 12.6 ov), 6-84 (Sammy, 13.1 ov), 7-118 (Mayers, 16.1 ov), 8-118 (Davis, 16.3 ov)
Bowling: Parnel 4-0-27-2(2w),Rampaul 4-0-22-2(1w),Peterson 4-0-23-1(1w),Malik 2-0-12-1,Syewart 3-0-25-1,Reifer 3-0-30-1(3w)
Result: Tridents won by 25 runs.
Points: Trident 2, Zouks 0.
Man-of-the-Match: Nicholas Pooran.
Toss: Zouks.
Umpires: N Bassarath ,J Cloete; TV – P Gustard.
