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Posted: Monday 11 August, 2014 at 8:39 AM

Tridents march into Finals with convincing Victory

By: Loshaun Dixon, SKNVibes.com

    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Barbados Tridents have made a miraculous leap to the top of the 2014 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and earn a spot in the Final after they defeated the defending Champions Jamaica Tallawahs in the final preliminary game on Sunday (Aug. 10) at Warner Park.

     

    After arriving in St. Kitts in fourth place the Tridents were assured of a Semi-Final spot but never anticipated their leap to the top of the standings after some poor performances from the teams ahead of them.

    In a run filled first game Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles set the tone for the entire game as they set a new record for the highest opening partnership ever in the CPL of 139, as the Zouks look set to post a score of 200 or more.

    Following the dismissal of Fletcher for 78 and Charles for 62 the Zouks innings failed to gather any momentum as the likes of Sohail Tanvir and Kevin Pietersen failed to capitalize on the foundation set by the openers. 

    Pietersen was dismissed by a brilliant catch from Martin Guptill with many people who thought it was six but a brilliant one handed catch that plucked the ball out the air and rob the batsman of six runs.

    Some lusty blows in the end by Captain Darren Sammy who hit 22 from 13 lifted his side to 189-7 from their 20 overs.

    Navin Stewart was the pick of the Amazon Warriors bowlers with three wickets for 22 runs.

    In their chase the Amazon Warriors bettered the Zouks’ opening stand with Lendl Simmons and Martin Guptill breaking the record that was set in the innings prior as they posted a partnership of 154.

    Simmons however was the aggressor as he targeted and successfully attack the Zouks’ Tino who’s second over went for 24 as the Warriors gunned down the challenging total.

    When Guptill was removed in the 17th over nerves in the Amazon Warriors dressing room were evident as they needed 38 from the final 18 balls.

    Simmons then targeted Mervin Matthews and took 26 from the 18th over hitting four sixes to move his score to 96 and the team’s target down to 11 from 12 balls.

    In the following over while attempting a second run Simmons was run out falling three short of a century. A four from Captain Dinesh Ramdin and a six from Chris Barnwell carried the Amazon Warriors to an easy victory in the end.

    With the Guyana Amazon Warriors winning gave the second game added impetus between the Jamaica Tallawahs and the Barbados Tridents as the winner could potentially move to the top of the table and earn the automatic Finals spot.

    When asked about taking his amazing catch Guptill stated that he stuck out a hand and the ball stuck.

    “It turned out to be an important wicket, but to be honest, I thought I had misjudged the catch to begin with. I ended up just sticking out a hand and it stuck, which is sometimes the way with those type of catches."

    Tridents captain Kieron Pollard won the toss and to everyone’s surprise won the toss and chose to bat.

    The batting got off to a fantastic start with Dwayne Smith playing shots all around the ground. Smith was however removed by a beautiful catch by Andre Russell who sprinted approximately 35 yards to hang on to Smith’s skied shot.

    The Tridents then lost two more quick wickets before Pollard came to the crease and he and William Perkins steadied the innings. After rebuilding the inning Pollard launched an all-out attack on the Tallawahs bowlers hitting some of the biggest sixes of the tournament thus far on his way to 63 from 36 balls.

    Two sixes from Jason Holder in the Final over pushed the Tridents total to a challenging 175.

    In response the Tallawahs innings got off to the worst possible start when they lost Chris Gayle in the second over and fellow opener Chadwick Walton the following over.

    In came Nkrumer Bonner who tried to stabilized the innings with some magnificent shots but was frustrated by his teammates who continued to fall around him  leaving his side 69-6 in the 13th over needing 107 from the remaining seven overs.

    Bonner however was dismissed playing one shot to many as he hit one on off stump straight to deep mid-wicket.

    Tallawahs then collapsed to a mere 87 all out leaving the all four qualified teams on 12 points with Net Run Rate having to determine all four places. Tridents won by 88 runs and the convincing victory meant they move into top spot and an automatic place in the final.

    In the first Semi-Final the third place Jamaica Tallawahs will face the fourth place Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel and the winner of that encounter will face the second place Guyana Amazon Warriors. The winner will then face the Tridents on the 16th.

    Tridents captain, Kieron Pollard was shocked that his team was able to get top spot based on the position they were in when they came to St. Kitts.

    “We knew we had qualified for the knockout stages when we arrived in St. Kitts, but finishing top looked a long way off. We took a brave decision today to bat first on a pitch where chasing teams have had a lot of success this week. Our batting is a strength for us though and - as this was a virtual semi-final – we thought that runs on the board would really count, and so it proved.” 
     
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