Trinbago Knight Riders held off a strong challenge from the Barbados Tridents to secure a crucial victory.
The Tridents slammed 14 runs off the final over in a brave bid for glory to lift themselves off the foot of the table, but fell short of the 24 runs needed off the last six balls. Trinbago’s victory guarantees the defending champions a top-two finish to ease their path to a potential place in the final for the second year running.
The Trinbago players all added value to the innings, with Denesh Ramdin top-scoring with only his second half-century of the season, while Chris Lynn (29 from 10) and Dwayne Bravo (33 from 20) gave the innings impetus at the end to take Trinbago to 180-5.
Imran Khan picked up 2-25 (econ 6.25) and Mohammad Irfan 1-28 (econ 7.00), but their teammates all took some tap.
The Tridents got off to a strong start but got bogged down in the middle overs. Nicholas Pooran kept them in the hunt, scoring 44 off 32 balls (two fours, four sixes) before being run out by Darren Bravo. Jason Holder hit a six and a four to score 21 off 16 balls, and Roston Chase and Shamar Springer hit out bravely in the final overs but they were always behind the chase as Trinbago won by nine runs.
Fawad Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers, removing the top three Tridents batsmen as he took 3-28 (econ 7.00), making him the leading wicket-taker in CPL 2018 to date. Sunil Narine (0-27, econ 6.75) and Khary Pierre (0-14, econ 4.66) helped to keep the Tridents’ innings in check.
For the Tridents, their only prize was the wooden spoon for securing bottom spot in CPL 2018 after suffering seven straight losses.
Photo: Ashley Allen – CPL T20/Getty Images
