The Barbados Tridents’ stuttering defense of their Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title finally ended as they again failed to make three figures against a well-balanced attack from the Guyana Amazon Warriors. Chandrapaul Hemraj’s early limits meant Shimron Hetmyer and Ross Taylor could take the team home on cruise control, and the Amazon Warriors finished the league stage on a four-out-of-four winning streak.
Romario Shepherd ended a promising start with two wickets in two balls. Charles tamely hit Taylor on the spot, but there was nothing tame about the dismissal of pinch hitter Rashid Khan, as a strong pull was brilliantly caught by Brandon King, who ran 20 yards to his left from the deep square leg and dived. long.
Greaves survived the hat-trick and then closed the over with a four. Brooks hit a four off Imran Tahir, but fell softly to Green, though Taylor took a good catch on the short midwicket, and the Tridents reached the Powerplay on 3/28. That turned into 4/28 on the next ball when Tahir pitched Greaves, defeating it all ends with a googly.
Kyle Mayers threw a Hero Maximum straight in front of Sinclair, but it was undone again with a flick of the wrist, dodging a googly Tahir to give Hemraj an easy catch midway. The implosion continued when Tridents captain Jason Holder gifted Green a catch in the midwicket with the second ball after the drink break, Shepherd the bowler, and a second poor hitting effort followed by the Trident. against the Amazon Warriors he left them 39/6 after 11 overs.
Mitchell Santner and Nyeem Young milked Sinclair for eight, and while Naveen only went for one upon his return, Young ended a 37-ball drought with a classy Hero Maximum over Green. Santner took Shepherd out for four, and after 15 overs, the Tridents were 65/6. Sinclair finished the mini-comeback, pitching Santner with a faster ball and celebrating by adding an extra lap or two to his post-wicket routine.
Young should have fallen to Naveen, King made some good leg-side ground again, but this time he dropped the catch, but it mattered little as he soon missed a sweep from another googly Tahir and was thrown. Tahir finished his spell atop the Hero CPL wicket takers table, and the Tridents finished on the 18th in 78/8.
Raymon Reifer drew a slower ball from Naveen through the midwicket, and although the young Afghan finished without a wicket, he will cast much worse spells that look better on the scorecard. Shepherd once again showed off his effective slingy yorker in the 20th plus which was for just five. Innings ended with a run-out and, for the third time at Hero CPL 2020, the Tridents failed to make three figures as a team.
Santner hit the second ball of the chase, launching King with an arm ball that, in effect, went to the right-hander. A narrow over from Holder ensured Hemraj got off to a slow start, but he got underway with a powerful punch that swept through Hero Maximum and a four from Santner. He should have fallen to the New Zealander, the generally flawless Hayden Walsh Jr who dropped a catch but continued his attack against Rashid with two fours and six. After four overs, the Amazon Warriors were 34/1 and the required run rate was just three and a half.
Holder deftly tipped the ball through Hemraj, who couldn’t resist a shot and was well caught by Young in the third man. Sherfane Rutherford, instead of the laid-back Keemo Paul, got a promotion to four, but lasted just three balls before outscoring Holder to Ashley Nurse on the slide. Holder suffered a heavy knockdown but completed a wicket-maiden, leaving the Amazon Warriors 40/3 after seven overs.
Hetmyer started attentively, his first limit did not reach his 12 ball and that also beat new goalkeeper Charles. Pooran faced five point balls and tried to go off the mark with a limit, but Reifer hit Reifer in midair to give Brooks a simple cover catch. Taylor joined Hetmyer with a score of 49/4 and a brief to calm things down.
Young began with a full chest-high pitch that was correctly called a no-ball, and he was lucky he wasn’t called for another on the free throw, Taylor hitting a suspiciously high pitch for four. Hetmyer again outscored the goalie, and he and Taylor pushed and led the Amazon Warriors to 67/4 at the half, needing just 23 more to win.
Holder could have ended his spell with a third wicket, but Taylor’s lead was diverted and Rashid was pushed to six of two overs to leave only 12 to win. Hetmyer finally hit his first boundary off Santner thanks to a field indifferent from the visibly injured Holder boundary, Taylor had time to practice his forward defense against his compatriot, and Hetmyer for the second day in a row hit the winning runs.
The Tridents now hold the unwanted record of being the first defending Hero CPL champions to fail to reach knockouts, and with the Amazon Warriors now guaranteed to avoid the Trinbago Knight Riders in the semi-finals, a sixth final is up for grabs.
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