Pollard leads Tridents to win over Warriors
PROVIDENCE, Guyana (CMC) — Kieron Pollard grabbed four wickets as Barbados Tridents recovered from a precarious position to beat Guyana Amazon Warriors by 14 runs in game 28 of the Caribbean Premier League at the providence Stadium here on Saturday.
Pollard snatched four wickets for 30 runs to throw Amazon Warriors innings into chaos and successfully derail their efforts to surpass an ordinary total of 125 for nine posted by Tridents, who have now extended their lead at the top of the table.
South African medium pacer David Wiese, who only made his CPL debut just two days ago, was largely responsible for Tridents batting woes with a haul of five wickets for 30 runs.
Tridents were imploding at 57 for the loss of five wickets when All-rounder Jason Holder and Rayad Emrit came to the rescue with a 45-run stand for the seventh wicket.
Later, Pollard seized control by removing dangerous batsmen capable of keeping the Warriors in the game as Tridents confirmed their status as hot favourites for the title this year.
Wiese removed openers Dwayne Smith and Steven Taylor for 14 and 13, respectively, in the same over as Tridents slumped to 30 for the loss of two wickets.
Smith could not clear the ropes towards the sight screen and Umar Akmal ran to his left from long-on to take the catch after a couple of juggles, while Taylor got a leading edge and skied a ball to Denesh Ramdin.
Tridents found the going tough as more wickets tumbled, including Robin Peterson and Misbah-ul-Haq, who perished to the bowling of Devendra Bishoo in the space of three balls.
But Holder, with a top score of 30 from 17 balls including two fours and two sixes, and Emrit, who hit a six and a four in scoring 21 runs from the same number of balls, lifted Tridents from 65 for six to a more respectable 110 for seven.
Wiese then returned to disrupt the rescue mission by removing Holder and Emrit in successive deliveries at the height of the death overs.
Holder got a leading edge to Sunil Narine at extra cover, while Emrit was caught by Akmal at long-on.
Pollard was like a gladiator leading his troops against an Amazon Warriors who got off to an encouraging start but squandered the advantage with a pathetic batting display.
Pollard, leading an impressive collective bowling effort by the Tridents, dismissed the dangerous Lendl Simmons, who had put together 43 runs for the first wicket with Brian Hodge.
Hodge, who top scored with an explosive 27 after he was moved up to open the batting, dragged a ball from Imran Khan unto his stumps, while Simmons, who scored 15, chopped a delivery from Pollard straight into Khan’s hands.
Warriors, with their conservative batting, continued to struggle and failed to convert the promise of two lower order partnerships.
Captain Denesh Ramdin and Umar Akmal put on 28 runs for the third wicket, while Wiese and Chris Barnwell carved out the same number of runs for the fifth wicket.
With Amazon Warriors needing 24 off the last six balls to win , Barnwell, who scored 24, hit Pollard for a six and picked up two runs from his next ball, but lost his wicket in the third ball of the over.
Barnwell got an inside edge into his pad and onto the stumps as Warriors’ hope of victory faded, allowing Tridents to move higher up the table with 12 points from 10 matches.