CPL 2018: Tridents beat Amazon Warriors by 30 runs
Aug.13 (CRICKETNMORE) - Barbados Tridents made a winning start to their 2018 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign as Shai Hope’s maiden T20 half-century and a five-wicket haul for Raymon Reifer secured a 30-run win over Guyana Amazon Warriors. Brief Scores
Shoaib did pass a significant landmark during his 30-ball 38, becoming only the fourth man in history to reach 8000 career T20 runs and sit alongside short-form legends Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and Kieron Pollard.
The Pakistan veteran launched Nurse for a huge Hero Maximum but was bowled off the bottom edge next ball to leave the inexperienced Rutherford in charge of an increasingly daunting chase.
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With big hits needed, Rutherford was guilty of losing his shape and trying to hit the ball too hard. His strike-rate dipped below 100 as Holder gave up just four runs from his final over to leave the Amazon Warriors needing an unlikely 53 from the last three overs.
Rutherford did manage to clear the ropes in the 18th over to reduce the target to 39 from the last 12 balls, but Reifer returned to settle matters once and for all with three wickets in four balls over to end with remarkable figures of 5/20. Chris Green was caught at cover before Jason Mohammed holed out to deep point and a frustrated Rutherford gloved a slower ball through to Pooran.
Wahab completed the formalities, knocking back Sohail Tanvir’s off stump in the final over as the Amazon Warriors came up well short.
It was a comfortable opening win for the Tridents, but they could hardly have made a worse start.
Martin Guptill arrived in the Hero CPL on the back of a 35-ball hundred for Worcestershire against Northants in England’s T20 Blast but departed without scoring in the first over of the night here as he drilled Sohail Tanvir to mid-off where Rayad Emrit took a ripping one-handed catch.
And Dwayne Smith fell in the next over as he picked out Shoaib at cover off Aussie off-spinner Chris Green.
That brought Steve Smith to the crease, and he and Hope set about turning the innings around. Hope was the aggressor, taking a four and a big six over mid-off from the final over of the Power Play.
Smith got himself going with a couple of boundaries in the ninth, bowled by Emrit, first walking across his stumps to hit to leg in trademark style before lacing a cut shot that bounced back off the boards at point.
The innings really sparked to life, though, at the end of the 11th and start of the 12th. First Hope launched the otherwise-unhittable Tahir for two successive Hero Maximums to finish over 11 before Smith picked off Keemo Paul for back-to-back fours through the off-side to start the next.
Hope went through to a half-century – his first in T20 cricket - from 30 balls with three fours and three sixes, and the loss of Smith plumb lbw to Tahir for 41 didn’t slow him down.
In an innings that belied his T20 inexperience in just his 10th match, Hope continued to play strong but controlled shots, particularly down the ground. The 150 came up with his sixth Hero Maximum of the night, smoked over wide long-off and forcing the Carib Girls to take cover.
Spinners Tahir and Green gave Guyana some control, both men returning figures of 1/24 from their four overs, but the seamers all went the distance with Tanvir, Emrit and Paul all recording economy rates in double figures from their four-over spells.
Hope fell a dozen short of a hundred when he holed out to Hetmyer off Paul, but Pooran picked up the baton and propelled the Tridents beyond 180 with three sixes in the final over.
CPL Media Release
