Debutants Justin Greaves and Joshua Bishop helped the Barbados Tridents crush the St Lucia Zouks by 71 runs at the Darren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia in the Hero Caribbean Premier League on Friday night.
Both players were given their first-ever CPL starts by skipper Jason Holder and repaid him with brilliant performances in the lopsided win. Greaves first hit a 45-ball 57 laced with six fours and two sixes as the Tridents rattled up 172-6 in their 20 overs before Bishop bagged two wickets for 33 runs as Zouks were overwhelmed for 101.
The result helped push the Tridents into fourth position on the six-team table with fours point. They are now six points behind unbeaten leaders Guyana Amazon Warriors (10 pts) and four behind the joint second-placed Trinbago Knight Riders (8 pts) and St Kitts Nevis Patriots (8 pts).
Zouks skipper Darren Sammy and his side will also have to lift their game quickly too, as welcome TKR in another key matchup on Saturday at the same venue.
Unfortunately, the Zouks were the creators of their own demise on the night, as they went about their run chase in a cavalier fashion and lost wickets at critical intervals to injudicious shots and brilliant fielding.
Opener Rakheem Cornwall signalled the home side’s attitude in the very first over. He was lucky not to be caught at mid-off by skipper Holder at mid-off when he hit left-arm orthodox spinner Bishop for four, the ball going just over Holder’s reach. Cornwall got another four in the next delivery but was caught by Holder going for the same shot he played two balls before to be dismissed for eight.
Holder then got Colin Ingram, who got a life off the first ball he faced, to cut a short-pitched delivery straight to John Lalor at short third man as the Zouks slumped to 13-2.
The slide continued in the next over when Kavem Hodge was run out by a combination of Holder and wicket-keeper Leniko Boucher, as Andre Fletcher called him for a quick single and he was late to respond. Zouks were now tottering at 15 for three and still inside the Power Play.
Fletcher and Colin de Grandhomme then mustered a mini recovery in a 33-run fourth-wicket partnership. However, when Fletcher (14) chopped a Holder delivery onto his stumps in the sixth over, it signalled another collapse.
Zouks skipper Darren Sammy was out in the eighth over for just two runs to a brilliant catch by Jonathan Carter. Sammy got back in his crease to a shortish ball from medium-pacer Raymon Reifer and tried to guide it down to third man. However, he was stunned when he looked back to see Carter sprawling to his left and plucking the ball out of the air with his left hand just before it hit the turf at backward point.
The score then was 52 for five and only ten runs had been added when de Grandhomme was brilliantly run out by the busy Carter. Forced to go for runs by scoreboard pressure, de Grandhomme played spinner Sandeep Lamichhane to backward point and took off for a run which was never there. He was sent back by Christopher Barnwell, but by then Carter had already swooped around, picked up the ball and rifled a throw which uprooted the stumps with a scampering de Grandhomme not even in the run-out replay frame.
The Zouks fans were now dazed and confused – a hush enveloping the ground as they were witnessing the dismantling of their team.
And the Tridents did not let up there either, as they kept a steady flow of batsmen to and from the pavilion. Some late hitting from Hardus Viljoen (31) was thereafter the only thing which brought some smiles to the Zouks fans.
Earlier, Greaves and Johnson Charles set the perfect foundation for the Tridents with an opening partnership of 81 inside nine overs.
McCoy finally got the breakthrough when he got to Charles o hole out to Kesrick Williams at long-on for 28 runs.
Greaves brought up his half-century in the next over with a single off Sammy. It came off 36 balls and included six fours and two sixes. But Greaves added just seven ore runs after that before being dismissed by Cornwall, playing a full-blooded sweep towards the deep square leg boundary only to see de Grandhomme take a good diving catch just before the ball hit the ground with the score 96-2.
Carter joined JP Duminy at the crease and the two shared a 43-run third-wicket partnership to keep the momentum going.
However, the Zouks pulled things back by removing Carter (30) and Duminy (18) in quick succession. First, after being hit for six the previous ball, McCoy produced a slower bouncer which Carter run down the wicket to, blasted towards the sweeping boundary but could not beat Kavem Hodge. Six balls later, Williams got Duminy out caught at mid-wicket, again by Hodge, as the Tridents slipped to 142-4 in the 18th over.
But Ashely Nurse (15) and Holder (10*) ensured the visitors still got to a defendable total.
SUMMARISED SCORES:
BARBADOS TRIDENTS 172-6 (20) (Justin Greaves 57, Jonathan Carter 30, Johnson Charles 28, Kesrick Williams 3/44, Oden McCoy 2/19) v ST LUCIA ZOUKS 101 ALL OUT (14.5) (Hardus Viljoen 31, Colin de Grandhomme 28, Jason Holder 2/24, Joshua Bishop 2/33)
Result: BARBADOS TRIDENTS WON BY 71 RUNS
Man-of-the-match: JONATHAN CARTER (BT)