Tabraiz Shamsi returned stunning figures of 2-16 in four overs in his first CPL outing.
Shamsi has brilliantly filled the gap left in the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots side by Nepal’s Sandeep Lamichhane’s departure on international duty. Despite suffering from back spasms during the South Africa A team’s recent tour of India, Shamsi produced a superb spell of bowling against the Barbados Tridents.
Shamsi took a wicket with his second ball when he trapped Dwayne Smith leg before, bringing an end to a promising opening stand of 45 after six overs. He also added the wicket of dangerman Shai Hope midway through the innings to leave the Tridents stuck on 67-4. Two balls earlier, his Proteas teammate Hashim Amla had been run out for just three runs after a piece of remarkable fielding and wicketkeeping left him just short of the crease.
The dismissal would have been doubly frustrating for Amla, whose last eight innings have all been sub-40.
Shamsi’s superb efforts (4-0-16-2, econ 4.00) helped limit the Tridents to 168-5 off their 20 overs, but the Patriots made a meal of getting those runs, finally reaching their target with two balls in hand and only two wickets left in the bank. Mohammad Irfan was again devastating with the ball, taking 3-37, while Fabian Allen (playing his first CPL innings) scored a match-winning 64 not out off just 34 balls (S/R 188.23), with six fours and four sixes.
The Patriots are now top of the log by a single point but have played three matches more than the Trinbago Knight Riders and the Guyana Amazon Warriors. The Tridents are lost at the bottom of the league, with just four points from nine matches (including a six-match losing streak) and just a single game in hand.
Photo: Randy Brooks – CPL T20/Getty Images
