IN A thrilling match which see-sawed in momentum between two closely matched sides Barbados Tridents eventually defended 146-7 to beat Jamaica Tallawahs by 17 runs before a packed Sabina Park on Saturday night to head to the top of the CPL standings.In an amazing atmosphere at Kingston, Dilshan Munaweera tried to quell the noise from the home fans as he made a quick start for the Tridents, assisted by fellow opener Dwayne Smith. But after the Sri Lankan opener departed with 33 runs on the board and Jonathan Carter went soon afterwards, the Tallawahs applied further pressure and slowed the run rate right down in front of a partisan home crowd, their efforts led by Jerome Taylor and Rusty Theron.
New arrival Misbah-ul-Haq was out for a duck, while Kieron Pollard made a scratchy start but did get going late in the innings after being dropped twice. Jason Holder contributed at the other end after also getting a reprieve thanks to a misfield by Mahela Jayawardene on the boundary. Pollard hit 16 of the 22 runs in the final over as he finished on 59*, giving his team something to defend after a challenging 20 overs in a knock that proved to be the centrepoint of man-of-the-match performance.
The Tallawahs suffered an early blow in their run-chase after losing Chris Gayle for 14 runs, but it was the decisive contribution of Robin Peterson that really changed the course of the game.
The bowler took two wickets with his first two balls – including the dangerous Chris Lynn, who made 13 – and, while his hat-trick was denied, the South African bowled Jerome Blackwood after dismissing Jayawardene to claim three wickets in the over.
The Tallawahs were losing wickets too regularly for comfort, but the run-rate was not suffering and, with Chadwick Walton still at the crease, the hosts seemed like the favourites to claim victory.
But Rayad Emrit dismissed the opener during a fine spell in which he went for just 3.5 runs per over, and by the end of the contest the Tallawahs batsmen could not find the boundary rope as the
Tridents won with something to spare to climb to the top of the Hero Motocorp Leaderboard.