Barbados Tridents made a winning start to their 2018 Hero 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.
After seeing both openers dismissed early, Hope plundered 88 from just 45 balls and shared a 105-run partnership with Australia superstar Steve Smith (41), before wicket-keeper Nicholas Pooran smashed three sixes in an unbeaten 45 from 27 to lift the Tridents to 185/4 from their 20 overs.
It was a total that always looked beyond the Amazon Warriors, who end the first home leg of their Hero CPL campaign on a losing note after victories over St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and St Lucia Stars.
After Chadwick Walton fell to what looked a harsh lbw decision against Jason Holder, whose back-of-a-length delivery looked set to clear the bails, Shimron Hetmyer briefly threatened something special as he raced to 22 from eight balls with two sixes and two fours.
But he fell into a Tridents trap when he slapped Reifer to Martin Guptill at wide long-on the ball after Luke Ronchi had skied a simple catch to Ashley Nurse. At 40/3 with such key men dismissed, it was always going to be a long road back.
Sherfane Rutherford and Shoaib Malik steadied the ship, but it was slow going with 44 balls eaten up to take the partnership to 50. The acceleration did eventually come from Shoaib, but there was by now just too much for the Amazon Warriors to do. At the end of the 20th over the Warriors managed to score 155/8.
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.
Upcoming Fixtures:
Tuesday, August 14 – Jamaica Tallawahs v St Lucia Stars (18:00), Sabina Park.
Wednesday, August 15 – Jamaica Tallawahs v St Kitts & Nevis Patriots (18:00h), Sabina Park.
