BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The St Lucia Stars ensured the Barbados Tridents’ would remain winless at home in this year’s Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) by trouncing them by six wickets at Kensington Oval here Sunday.
Once again it was the Tridents’ batting which let them down, as they could only muster 135 for seven off their 20 overs after they were sent in to bat.
The Stars, which have also endured a miserable season, made sure to end their regular season on a winning note, easily surpassing the target to reach 136 for four in 17.3 overs.
It was the Trident’s fourth straight loss in front of their home fans and their sixth in eight matches, to leave them firmly rooted at the bottom of the table on just four points. Meanwhile, the victory kept the Stars’ slim playoff hopes alive, as they ended their campaign on seven points.
No batsman from the Tridents had a meaningful impact on the game, with Hashim Amla’s topscore of 35 off 34 balls, highlighting those struggles, as no other batsman scored 20.
Openers Dwayne Smith and Martin Guptill both fell cheaply, with debutant Christopher Lamont having Smith caught at mid-off by Odean Smith for 16 and Kesrick Williams claiming Guptil’s wicket for just nine to leave them 27 for two.
Man-of-the-Match Lamont then caught Hope off his own bowling for just two, to put the Tridents in further trouble at 50 for three.
Shamar Springer (17) and Nicholas Pooran (14) struggled to get the ball away, striking only two boundaries in the 37 balls faced between them.
By the time Amla was dismissed in the 15th over, the Tridents had yet to reach triple figures.
Ashley Nurse and Imran Khan tried their best to get the Tridents up to a competitive total, but the final score was well below par.
The home side made a spirited response in the field, with Mohammad Irfan claiming the early wickets of Andre Fletcher and the promoted Rahkeem Cornwall for five and 18 respectively to limit the Stars to 24 for two.
But Chandrapaul Hemraj, who scored 37 from only 26 balls and David Warner, who finished unbeaten on 42, combined to add 56 runs in six overs to swing the momentum back in the Stars’ favour.
And even when captain Kieron Pollard fell for a first ball duck following Hemraj’s dismissal, Warner and Lendl Simmons carried them over the line in an unbeaten fifth-wicket partnership of 56.
