Barbados Tridents were soundly thrashed by Trinbago Knight Riders in a one-sided first round match in the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on Friday night.
The historic Queen’s Park Oval was a sea of red as the home fans filled the ground and enjoyed seeing their team trounce the visitors by seven wickets.
Asked to bat first, the Tridents were poor against the TKR slow bowlers on a sluggish pitch. They failed to adjust to the challenging conditions and could only make 127-9 off 20 overs. The home side then came out blazing and made 128-3 off just 14.5 overs to win with 31 balls to spare.
Sunil Narine was the star with the ball and bat. He took two wickets for 14 runs from his four overs and was well supported by Kieron Pollard with 2-19 and mystery bowler Usman Tariq who took one for 11 off his four tight overs.
In the second half, with a required run rate of just over six per over, Narine then teed off and scored 55 from 33 balls to secure the much-needed victory for the defending champions. He smashed six sixes and shared an opening stand of 96 off 57 balls with Colin Munro, who made 37 off 26 balls.
The result was the second straight defeat for the Tridents. They went under by 30 runs to Antigua and Barbuda Falcons last Tuesday night and are now on four points from four matches and sixth place in the seven-team table. They will now travel to face last-placed St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in a bottom-of-the-table clash at Warner Park on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (PS)