It was a story of two powerplays as Barbados Tridents gave their playoff hopes for the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) a boost in 2019 with an impressive 71-run victory over St. Lucia Zouk at Daren Sammy Stadium.
While Tridents opener Johnson Charles and Hero CPL debutant Justin Greaves paved the way to 63/0 in the first six overs of the night, the Zouks lost wickets in each of the first three overs of their chase and another in the sixth reach 48/4 at the same level.
The Zouks had actually done a decent job by limiting the Tridents to 172/6, after the opener had brought the score to 76/0 after only seven overs, including a seven-limit spell in the space of 10 balls between the second and fourth overs.
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Daren Sammy got himself on his feet and braked immediately the rating. Only five singles came from his first hit.
Obed McCoy assisted with three points to increase pressure on Charles, who lost 28 points as he drove the next ball to Kesrick Williams.
Greaves made an excellent 50 debut in 36 balls, but slowed at this point and eventually swept Rahkeem Cornwall down to a deep square leg, where Colin de Grandhomme scored a clever low-catch.
After scoring 76/0 in the first seven innings, the Tridents made it only 29/2 from the next seven.
After a difficult start to his innings, Jonathan Carter got the Tridents going again with a run of four Hero Maximums 10 balls away but fell just after the last one. McCoy was the bowler again, picking up Carter from the deep cover of a smart short ball.
JP Duminy dropped out in the next round after beating eighteen, leaving Ashley Nurse, Raymon Reifer and Jason Holder to add some late runs as the innings ended in a jumble of boundaries and wickets. with Williams, who gets both reward and punishment to end up with 3/44 of his four overs.
The Tridents may have been a little disappointed with the platform they had, but it soon looked good as the Zouks lost keymen early.
Cornwall started with two fours when the Tridents entrusted the opening to their second debutant, 19-year-old leftist Joshua Bishop. However, he kept his nerve and got his reward when Cornwall tried and failed to clear Holder in the middle.
Holder then hit the ball, surprising Colin Ingram – who had been dropped as the first ball – with an extra rebound and getting him caught at the top.
When Kavem Hodge ran off in the next overflow after Andre Fletcher had called him for a single that never ran, the Zouks had to climb a mountain.
De Grandhomme and Fletcher tried it for a short time. Three boundaries passed from Holders second, and de Grandhomme then took Bishop over a long-off for a breathtaking six before he pierced four along the carpet in the same direction.
Fletcher seemed to find his feet as he struck Holder on top for a one-bounce four, but chopped his next ball into the leg stump.
The Zouks already had problems, but after two brilliant moments on the field, they were done by Carter. He had already made a bat impact, but surpassed it, first with a flying one-hander to fire Sammy for only 2, and then on the next dive to beat a Diving de Grandhomme through a vacant yard with a direct hit.
After that, it was a mitigation limit for the zouks. Chris Barnwell handed Bishop a second wicket as he retreated to long-on. It was a gentle dismissal, but also a deserved reward for the young spinner, who has done more than enough to suggest that his 2/33 here will not be an isolated case.
Josh Lalor removed Kesrick Williams with his first ball and although Hardus Viljoen raised the Zouks to over 100 at least with a couple of big sixes in front of Sandeep Lamichhane, he was thrown out of Nepal’s leg spinner for 31 and, with McCoy unable to beat. Injured due to injury as the winner.
The Tridents now occupy the last playoff spot in the Hero CPL table, two points ahead of the Zouks and Jamaica Tallawahs. However, they have the idea to add a home game in five games against Guyana Amazon Warriors on Sunday.
