Defending champions, the Barbados Tridents, left their best performance for last as they defeated the Jamaica Tallawahs in their final match of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, on Saturday.
SCORES: Jamaica Tallawahs 161/4 (20) versus Barbados Tridents 165/3 (18.2) - Tridents win by 7 wkts.
Tridents go home having won three of their 10 matches as they fail to make the semi-finals. The Tallawahs will now play the Trinbago Knight Riders in the semi-finals at the BLCA on Tuesday, as they will finish fourth in the standing even if they defeat the St Lucia Zouks in their final preliminary match, on Sunday.
After Jermaine Blackwood 74 and Andre Russell 54 combined to give the Tallawahs a healthy 161/4 off their allotted 20 overs, the Tridents batsmen led by skipper Jason Holder was ready for the fight.
By the second over, two men were already packing their bags but skipper Holder and Jonathan Carter did not let this deter them. Holder took the bull by the horns and attacked the bowling. He played freely and the runs came with a positive intent. By the time, he left on a dubious umpiring decision for 69, the writing was on the wall.
Carter stayed the course to bring home the win in the company of Mitchel Santner. Holder was brilliant in the evening taking just 42 balls to score his 69. He slammed three sixes and nine fours. Carter played the second fiddle and when Holder left he and New Zealander Santner stepped up to the plate and delivered. Carter was unbeaten on 42 from 44 balls with four fours and Santner 35 not out off 21 balls with two sixes and three fours.
Earlier, the Tallawahs kept wickets for their late onslaught and it worked well for them. Blackwood sent in to open for the first time in the tournament got attacked the bowling early and the run-rate was always around seven an over. He guided the innings and when Russell came in with eight overs to go, the two pressed the accelerator and runs began to flow.
Russell, knowing full well that he has the power, did not try to hit every ball. His inning was measured and he added 37 runs with Blackwood in no time. When Blackwood left for 74 off 59 balls with four sixes and five fours, the foundation was well set.
Russell hammered his way to a half-century falling in the final over, after hitting five sixes and four fours off just 28 balls.
SCORES:
Jamaica Tallawahs 161/4 (20) (Jermaine Blackwood 74, Andre Russell 54) vs Barbados Tridents 165/3 (18.2) (Jason Holder 69, Jonathan Carter 42no, Mitchel Santner 35no) - Tridents won by 7 wkts.