Trinbago score 2nd straight win in Hero CPL

Sunil Narine’s second straight fifty and his team’s all-round bowling display against Tallawahs gave Trinbago Knight Riders a perfect start in the 2020 Hero Caribbean Premier League with a second win in as many matches. Earlier, St. Lucia Zouks beat the rain and Barbados Tridents in a result obtained by the use of Duckworth Lewis method, for their first win.

After the first set of two matches each, only Trinbago have two wins, while Guyana Amazon Warriors, Zouks, Jamaica Tallawahs and Tridents have one win each and St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots have lost both matches.

Narine stars yet again for Trinbago

Trinbago, electing to field, had Jamaica Tallawahs struggling from the start as Ali Khan and Jayden Seales and then Sunil Narine regularly chipped away at the line-up. Tallawahs lost Chadwick Walton on the second ball and Nicholas Kirton on the seventh to be reduced to 10 for two. They lost half of their famed line-up for 58 in less than eight overs. Glenn Phillips (58) and later Asif Ali (22) and Andre Russell (25) put some resistance, but it was never enough as they reached a modest 135 for eight.

Chasing the target, Trinbago lost Lendl Simmons on the third ball of the innings but the in-form Narine (53 with two sixes and seven fours) and Colin Munro (49 not out with five fours and two sixes) put on 75 for the second wicket in a shade over 10 overs. That made it comfortable. Narine, while being severe on spin, was also harsh on the pace from Russell.

Even after Narine’s dismissal, Munro stayed on for a while more and ensured there were no mishaps as Trinbago coasted to a seven-wicket win with 1.5 overs to spare.

Narine was adjudged the Player of the match.

Trinbago Knight Riders 136/3 (Narine 53, Munro 49*, DM Bravo 14; Mujeeb 1/13, Edwards 1/19, Lamichhane 1/30) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 135/8 (Phillips 58, Russell 25, Asif 22; Seales 2/21, Ali Khan 2/25, Fawad 1/18, Narine 1/19) by 7 wickets.

Player of the match: Sunil Narine

Zouks beat the rain and Tridents

St Lucia Zouks had to indulge in some heavy hitting with a target that was revised to 47 in five overs after rain hit their Hero CPL match against Barbados Tridents. The Tridents were 131 for seven in 18.1 overs when rain cut short their innings.

Tridents began well but the Zouks’ off-spinners had them in a bind. At 64 for two, before they lost Shai Hope (19), Tridents had a good start from Johnson Charles (35). But a spell of four wickets for 11 runs in just 18 balls proved the undoing for Tridents. When the rain came, it also meant the revised target would be manageable for Zouks. An interesting feature was that Zouks used eight bowlers to go through the 18.1 they got to bowl before the rain.

Chasing 47 to win, a couple of top edges and a straight one saw three successive fours from Rahkeem Cornwall. The first over from Tridents skipper Jason Holder fetched 13. That eased the pressure before Rashid had Cornwall stumped the next over.

Najibullah and Mohammed Nabi ensured nine more in third over. Then in the fourth Nabi helped himself to a six and a four off first two deliveries before being caught at square leg. Fletcher got the strike as the batsman managed to change ends and he smashed a six of the fifth ball to make it a costly 17-run and at 46 for three, Zouks just needed one more run to win.

Fletcher did the honours, smashing Raymon Reifer through the covers to secure two points for Zouks.

St Lucia Zouks 50/3 (Fletcher 16*, Nabi 15, Cornwall 14; Rashid 2/24, Reifer 1/13) beat Barbados Tridents 131/7 (Charles 35, Holder 27, Hope 19; Chase 2/8, Kuggeleijn 2/28, Nabi 1/19, Deyal 1/3) by 7 wickets (DLS target 47 off 5 overs).

Player of the match: Mohammed Nabi

Upcoming fixtures: Saturday 22 August - Match 7: St Kitts & Nevis Patriots v St Lucia Zouks (7.30 pm IST); Guyana Amazon Warriors v Jamaica Tallawahs (11.45 pm IST), Brian Lara Cricket Academy.