Saturday 18th July – Providence, Guyana
The Barbados Tridents bowled brilliantly as a unit to defend 125 against
the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Hero Caribbean Premier League. Rayad Emrit,
Kieron Pollard and Robin Peterson all did an outstanding job in preventing the
Amazon Warriors from getting to a target that they could have reached with some
ease. When the Tridents had batted, Jason Holder had top scored with 30 as he
helped get his side to a total that they could feasibly defend, but it is the
bowlers that deserve the credit.
The Barbados Tridents gave a chance to USA opening batsman Steven Taylor
at the top of the order and the 21-year-old did not look out of place as he
smashed Veerasammy Permaul over long on for six. Unfortunately for the young
man, who was getting a chance on such a big stage, he could not make the most
of it as he mistimed a pull shot off David Wiese for 13.
Wiese collected the wicket of Taylor’s
fellow opener, Dwayne Smith, in the same over to leave the Tridents 30-2 with
two batsman at the crease that had yet to face a ball. Wiese collected his
third wicket when the wily South African seamer had Jonathan Carter caught at
the wicket for seven.
During the middle overs it was the spin bowlers that were the stars of
the show. Sunil Narine was at his parsimonious best. For the second game in
succession he bowled a maiden, quite an achievement in this harum-scarum form
of the game.
While Narine was collecting dot balls it was Devendra Bishoo that was
collecting wickets. Bishoo managed to dismiss Robin Petersen and Misbah-ul-Haq
as, for the second match in a row, the Providence
pitch took turn and bounce from the spinners.
Wiese returned at the end of the innings to complete the third
five-wicket haul of his career, ending up with figures of 5-30, as the Tridents
stumbled to 125-9. Only Jason Holder produced an innings of any substance, high
scoring with 30 runs from just 17 balls. If not for him the Tridents would have
struggled to make if past the 100 mark.
The Amazon Warriors began their chase in steady fashion, clearly
deciding that a measured approach was the way to go in these conditions.
They made it to 23-0 off their Powerplay as the hugely experienced Brad Hodge
and Lendl Simmons looked to keep wickets in hand chasing a target of just over
a run a ball.
The approach was not without risk as the required rate increased rapidly
on a surface where it was tricky to score rapidly without losing wickets in
clusters. Some of the pressure that was built up was released when Tridents
captain, Kieron Pollard, turned to his inexperienced leg spinner, Imran Khan.
He was taken for eight runs off his first over as the batsmen made a conscious
effort to target him.
Khan came back well in his next over, dismissing Hodge to a ball that
the batsman tried to cut but it was too close to him for the shot. He only
succeeded in chopping the ball onto the stumps having made 27 from 28.
At the halfway point of the Amazon Warriors innings they had made it to
45-1 and that became 45-2 when Simmons was well caught at point off Pollard
from the first ball of the 11th over.
Umar Akmal and Denesh Ramdin combined in a partnership of 28 at a run a
ball, however Akmal was dismissed for 20 off the bowling of Pollard as the
Amazon Warriors were left needing 10 an over to win.
Ramdin was needed to be there at the end for the Amazon Warriors to
reach their target, but he could not get his side home. The Amazon Warriors
captain looped a tame catch to Misbah at point off Rayad Emrit.
Some powerful late order hitting from Christopher Barnwell got the
Amazon Warriors close, but he was left with too much to do with 24 needed off
the last over. He swung manfully but the Guyanese side came up 14 runs
short.
This win means that the Tridents will finish in second place in the
table at worst and only the Red Steel can finish above them if they win both of
their remaining fixtures. Last year’s champions did brilliantly well to dig
deep and defend this total and it bodes well for them in the latter stages.
No comments:
Post a Comment