Patriots spoil Bajan homecoming CPL party

THE St Kitts and Nevis Patriots spoiled the party for the Barbados Tridents in their first home match of the 2018 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL), winning by six wickets at Kensington Oval in Barbados, last night.

Chasing a modest 148 for victory, Patriots got off to a poor start as captain Chris Gayle was caught by wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran for duck off the first ball to give Mohammad Irfan the early wicket. The struggling Evin Lewis was also caught by the keeper off the literally unplayable Irfan to leave Patriots on 7/2.

Brandon King and Devon Thomas then rescued the innings. The partnership started slowly, but the pair combined to hit spinner Steve Smith for four sixes in the ninth over as Patriots got to 58/2 after 10 overs.

Patriots were reduced to 95/3 when Thomas was bowled for 32 off 29 balls. King found an able partner in Ben Cutting as they took Patriots to 121 when King was caught attempting a big shot. Cutting and Tom Cooper took Patriots to victory, getting to 148/4 in 18.5 overs. Irfan ended with remarkable figures of two wickets for one run in four overs.

Led by a player who did not feature in the CPL last year, the Tridents posted just 147/6.

Jason Holder, who missed the 2017 edition because he was on West Indies duty, struck 54 off 35 balls to lead the Tridents batting.

The Tridents got off to a slow start as Dwayne Smith didn’t look himself. Smith and opening partner Martin Guptill failed to excite the crowd as their partnership never gained momentum.

Both fell with the score on 39 in the eighth over, with Guptill run out by a direct hit by Anton Devcich, and Smith was brilliantly caught as Evin Lewis took a one-handed catch inches from the boundary.

Holder and Shai Hope put on 87 runs for the third wicket with the former dominating the partnership. Holder belted four fours and three sixes, but the pair could only take the Tridents to 126 in the 18th over, when Hope and Holder fell off back-to-back deliveries. Hope failed to dominate at the middle as he took 24 deliveries to score 26. Two more wickets fell as Tridents got to 147/6 in 20 overs.

Devcich grabbed two for 25 in four overs and Ben Cutting snatched 2/18 in four overs for the Patriots.

SUMMARISED SCORES: Barbados Tridents 147/6 (20 overs) - Jason Holder 54, Shai Hope 26, Anton Devcich 2/25, Ben Cutting 2/18 vs St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 148/6 (18.5 overs) - Brandon King 60, Devon Thomas 32, Mohammad Irfan 2/1. Patriots won by six wickets.