KINGSTON—A star performance from Barbados Tridents’ captain Kieron Pollard with bat, ball and in the field helped to deny the Appleton Estate Jamaica Tallawahs the chance to replace their opponents at the top of the Hero Caribbean Premier League table in front of a sell-out crowd at Sabina Park on Saturday.
Krishmar Santokie, the leading wicket-taker in this year’s Hero CPL, bowled a typically accurate and economical first over but Dilshan Munaweera gave the Tridents some impetus plundering Daniel Vettori for 12 runs in the second.
Opening partner Dwayne Smith soon got going, latching onto a ball that Santokie overpitched and chipped it powerfully for six.
The breakthrough for the Tallawahs came off Jerome Taylor’s first ball. His extra pace and bounce was too much for Munaweera, who popped an easy catch to, fellow Sri Lankan, Mahela Jayawardene and departed for 18 off 14 balls.
After the wicket, Taylor and then Rusty Theron started to put the squeeze on the new batsman Jonathan Carter to restrict the Tridents to 34-1 in the Powerplay. The pressure told again when Carter (six off 14 balls) pulled Theron straight to Chris Lynn on the deep square leg boundary.
Pollard joined Smith and together they looked to rebuild the innings. Smith broke the shackles somewhat as the halfway stage approached, cutting Vettori for the Tridents’ first boundary in six overs.
Just as things were looking up for the Tridents, a terrible mix-up and an incredible throw from Santokie in the deep combined to break the partnership with a run out that left Smith heading for the dugout at 27 off 25.
Vettori then removed Misbah-ul-Haq for a disappointing three ball duck before Pollard and Jason Holder (26 from 22) did some rebuilding.
Pollard took the lead in the final assault with a ramp over long leg and then a six and a four off consecutive balls from Santokie.
Rain interrupted the game for about an hour and broke the Tridents’ momentum: Andre Russell knocked out Holder’s stumps with the first ball after the restart and two balls later Russell had Navin Stewart caught by Vettori.
Pollard reach his half-century off 35 balls in the final over to take his side to a competitive 146-7 with a last-ball maximum over the wide-midwicket boundary.
Tallawahs captain Chris Gayle started in ominous fashion, top-edging a massive six off the bowling of Holder. It was not to be his night however, as he smacked a powerful drive to extra cover. Chris Lynn (13) started brightly, but chopped onto his stumps.
Pollard then moved himself to silly point and Mahela Jayawardene popped the first ball to him where he took a stunning reflex catch. Peterson claimed his third wicket in the over when Blackwood was bowled playing for turn that wasn’t there.
After losing four wickets in the Powerplay, the Tallawahs looked to rebuild through Walton and Bonner, but the Tridents continued to pile on the pressure and they needed nearly eight an over from the final ten.
