TAROUBA, Trinidad, CMC – Lacklustre batting coupled with rain dealt reigning champions Barbados Tridents their first defeat of the Caribbean Premier League, as they went down to St Lucia Zouks by seven wickets under Duckworth-Lewis-Stern here Thursday.
The rains arrived following the first ball of the penultimate over with Tridents struggling on 131 for seven after opting to bat first at the Brian Lara Stadium, and kept players off the field for the next two hours.
When the skies finally cleared, Zouks were left with a revised target of 47 of five overs and they outplayed Tridents to get home with five balls remaining.
The affair remained an open one with Zouks on 24 for two in the third over but Andre Fletcher (16 not out) and Mohammad Nabi (15) struck some lusty blows to erase any doubt over the result.
For the Zouks, the victory was their first following Wednesday’s defeat to Jamaica Tallawahs, and it left Tridents once again pondering a shambolic batting approach that also nearly failed them in Tuesday’s opening day victory over St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
Choosing to bat first, Tridents got 35 off 19 deliveries from opener Johnson Charles and a cameo 12-ball 27 from captain Jason Holder but again lost wickets in clusters with happy-go-lucky batting.
Charles blasted three fours and two sixes as he scored all 35 runs in an opening stand with Shai Hope whose 19 came from 16 deliveries and included three fours.
After already having belted seamer Scott Kuggeleijn over long on for six off the first ball of the fourth over, Charles then failed to clear mid-off with the third ball and found captain Darren Sammy’s safe hands at head height.
Tridents quickly slipped to 64 for three in the ninth over as New Zealander Corey Anderson (2) drove a high full toss from Kuggeleijn to Roston Chase at cover in the sixth over and Hope picked out deep square with Afghanistan off-spinner Mohammad Nabi.
Holder then counter-attacked in a 34-run, fourth wicket stand with Kyle Mayers (16), striking two effortless fours and sixes, to push the scoring along.
He had blasted seamer Kesrick Williams to the cover boundary off the previous delivery when he tried to clear the ropes at long on off the next ball – the last of the 12th over – but succeeded only in holing out to Sammy.
Holder’s dismissal triggered the slide as four wickets perished for 11 runs in the space of 16 deliveries.
Jonathan Carter holed out in the deep off Chase’s off-spin for five, Mayers found Kuggeleijn’s lap at square leg off the next ball before Raymon Reifer (1) feathered a slash at off-spinner Mark Deyal’s third ball of his only over.
Needing to score at just over nine to win, Zouks got the start they needed when Rahkeem Cornwall (14) whacked three consecutive boundaries in the first over from pacer Holder.
And even though he, along with Najibullah Zadran (5) fell in quick succession, Nabi and Fletcher easily put the finishing touches on the short run chase.
