Both St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and Barbados Tridents desperately needed a win in their CPL 2026 match in Basseterre on Tuesday night. Patriots got it, but not without a big slice of controversy around their Player of the Match, Johnson Charles.
Charles was out caught in the deep swatting a high full-toss; the initial decision was out; Charles trudged off, only to return after the third umpire reviewed his review, and the Tridents players weren’t happy at all.
“The umpires tonight, I thought they managed the game poorly,” was Tridents captain Chris Green’s take after the game, which Patriots won by six wickets. What made it worse for the officials was that Jason Holder, the winning captain, was on Green’s side. “It’s probably a wake-up call for the umpires to be a bit firmer and more decisive,” Holder said.
It was the fifth ball of the third over of Patriots’ chase of Tridents’ 217 for 4.
Ramon Simmonds sent the ball in. It was high and in line with the stumps. Charles, then on 26, swung hard, mistimed it, and Sherfane Rutherford put in a big dive at deep square leg and scooped the ball up.
There was no no-ball call on the field, but Charles waited in the middle even as the on-field umpires Chris Wright and Zahid Bassarath asked for a review.
After a series of replays, with the commentators on the broadcast concluding it was above the permissible height, the TV umpire Carl Tuckett flashed “OUT” on the giant screen. Charles trudged off, shaking his head. The next batter walked out.
Simon Helmot of the Patriots support staff remonstrated with reserve umpire Gregory Brathwaite on the sidelines. There was uproar in the stands – Basseterre is Patriots’ home venue – and, curiously, the replays kept playing, with the Tridents players waiting. Suddenly, the giant screen flashed “NOT OUT”.
And Charles was back, with Tuckett having reviewed the incident again and overturned his own decision.
That in turn led to Green and Rutherford, among other Tridents players, having a go at the on-field umpires, but the decision had been made.
And the free-hit was smashed for a six, rubbing salt in Tridents’ wounds.
“From the very get-go, I thought it was a no-ball because it’s all about the point of contact, and I thought it was a no-ball right there and then,” Charles said on the broadcast after his 45-ball 78 had given Patriots their second win of the competition.

“But you know, some controversies just liven up the game, and it’s all up to the umpires.”

Charles might have made light of the situation, but Green was having none of it. “The umpires tonight, I thought they managed the game poorly with that decision in the way that a player goes off the field and then comes back on,” he said.
“I think that needs to be looked at, and it’s not a good look for this tournament.”
Johnson Charles turned his season around with a match-winning innings, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots vs Barbados Tridents, CPL 2026, Basseterre, September 1, 2026
Green added that there was “no communication” from the umpires on what had happened.
“Look, I wasn’t over there [in the middle], so I don’t really have the ground to comment. But for me, it’s just very messy,” Holder said.
“In the Caribbean, we don’t want to see these things happening. It’s probably a wake-up call for the umpires to be a bit firmer and more decisive in their decision-making.
“It doesn’t look good seeing a player go off the field and then have to be called back on.”
It seemed to bring the best out of Charles, though, after a pedestrian run in the tournament prior to this outing. His best in five innings before this game was 21, and only twice in those innings had he scored at over a run a ball. Now, he suddenly has an average of 26.16 and a strike rate of 131.93.
“Well, yeah, I’m a bit late to the party,” Charles joked after the game. “I must say I’ve been seeing the ball pretty big and I’ve been in good form. Confidence is high, but it was just not coming through, and that’s cricket. You know, that’s how the game goes. But I’m happy I’m back and doing good things for the team. Even if I’m late to the party, I’m just hoping I can put the team in a very good position.”
The win took Patriots to the fifth spot on the points table, while Tridents are still at the bottom. (Cricinfo)