Spearheaded by Captain Spearheaded by Kieron Pollard’s 63 off 36 balls at Warner Park in St. Kitts last night to lead the Barbados Tridents to a stunning 88-run victory over defending champions the Jamaica Tallawahs in the LIMACOL Caribbean Premier League Twenty/20 Cricket Tournament.
It was the final day of preliminaries of this year’s CPL and Barbados Tridents jumped from fourth place to first to earn a bye through to Saturday’s Final based on having the best net run rate after finishing deadlocked at 6-3 with the Tallawahs, Red Steel of Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana Amazon Warriors.
A loss for the Tridents would have left them in fourth place at 5-4, leaving them needing two wins to reach the final. That fate has now been transferred to the Tallawahs, who could have clinched first place outright with a win.
Instead, the nosedive they took on net run rate in a losing effort means they will have to beat the Red Steel in the first CPL play-off match on Wednesday followed by another win 24 hours later against the Amazon Warriors in order to reach the Final.
The Barbados Tridents batted first last night and made 175 for 8 off their 20-overs. Apart from Pollard’s 63, Dwayne Smith scored 32 and William Perkins reached 36. Medium pacer Juan Theron took 4 for 35 for Jamaica Tallawahs were dismissed for 87 off 15.3-overs.
Nkrumah Bonner top-scored with 47, Adam Voges made 10 but none of the other Tallawahs batsmen reached double figures. The wickets for Barbados Tridents were shared between off-spinner, Ashley Nurse 2 for 16, medium pacer, Rayad Emrit 2 for 29 and leg-spinner, Jeevan Mendis 2 for 15.
Jamaica Tallawahs and Red Steel of Trinidad and Tobago will the 1st semi-final on Wednesday. The winner will meet Guyana Amazon Warriors in the second semi-final on Thursday. The Final is set for Saturday.
