BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH the most impressive bowling figures so far in the Hero Caribbean Premier League by South African wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, along with a superb knock by captain Marlon Samuels, the St. Kitts-Nevis Patriots made light work in defeating defending champions Barbados Tridents for the second time.
Playing last evening (Jul. 6) to a near capacity crowd at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium, Tridents captain Kieron Pollard won the toss and decided to bat on what seemed to be a good batting surface.
Tridents openers Dwayne Smith and Dilshan Munaweera got the innings off to a decent start with a stand of 47. But at times they were struggling to score at a decent rate even though it seemed as if the Patriots fast bowlers could not get them out.
However, on introduction of their spinners, the Patriots caused much trouble for the Tridents batsmen. The first of the openers to go was Munaweera (18) who lost his wicket to Afridi in his first over. In the first ball of the next over, Shamshi got rid of Smith.
Shamshi then went on a tear removing Shia Hope, Jason Holder and Jonathon Carter to leave the defending champions struggling on 76-5.
He finished the innings with remarkable figures of four wickets for 10 runs and is fast becoming a crowd favourite by not only with his bowling performance, but also by his celebratory actions after taking a wicket.
Pollard however provided some impetus to the Tridents innings with some massive stroke-play, hitting five sixes as he powered his team to 135 off their allotted 20 overs scoring 49 from 33 deliveries.
In response, the Patriots openers Martin Guptill and Evin Lewis, came out of the gate looking to finish the game early, grabbing 12 off the first over.
After hitting a maximum and a four, Lewis played one shot too many and was brilliantly caught by Pollard. His departure brought Marlon Samuels to the crease and he and Guptill kept up the momentum of the opening pair, at time scoring 10 runs per over.
Pollard then put the squeeze on the pair y cutting off their boundary options, but they however were happy to pick up the singles on offer.
Trying to steal a tight single, Guptill was then run out for 45 and Samuels then indicated to the bench to send Brathwaite out to the middle in an effort to get the game completed as fast as possible, needing 25 more runs to win at that stage.
However much was not need from Brathwaite as Samuels took the game to Ashley Nurse and smashed 18 runs from his over, while also bringing up his 50.
By that time the 8000 supporters at Warner Park started chanting “Nah nahnah aye ayeaye goodbye” as the writing was on the wall for the Tridents.
Samuels hit the winnings runs finishing with 71 from 53 balls, giving the Patriots their second victory over the Tridents with 17 balls to spare.
Shamsi was named Man of the Match for his impressive bowling display.
