What a difference a day makes.
Less than 24 hours after pulling off a record Hero Caribbean Premier League run chase to beat the Jamaica Tallawahs, the St Kitts Nevis Patriots were put in a tailspin by the Barbados Tridents at Warner Park in St Kitts.
Chasing 187 for victory on their home ground, the Patriots could not read the spin of Sandeep Lamichhane and Hayden Walsh and were restricted to 168 for nine for their third loss in four matches.
Nepal’s Lamichhane and USA’s Walsh, both leg-break specialists, combined for five wickets, ripping out the heart of the Patriots middle-order to quickly bring the Patriots back to earth with an 18-run defeat.
The Tridents victory also opened up the six-team table, as while the Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders remain on top with a comfortable six points each, both the Patriots and Tridents now have two points. The Tallawahs and St Lucia Zouks, who meet in Thursday’s matchup, are yet to get a point.
But Tridents skipper and pacer Jason Holder had signalled the visitors’ intent from early on when he removed the dangerous Devon Thomas for just one with his very first ball. Thomas could not resist going for a delivery lined outside off stump and edged to wicket-keeper Leniko Boucher. Nine balls later, Holder sucked all the air out of the venue when he got Evin Lewis, who had scored a record half-century on Tuesday against the Tallwahs. After being pegged down for a few balls Lewis, on only 12, tried to break out of the shell with a forcing cover drive, but it spooned into the air and gave Ashley Nurse a comfortable catch at cover. Both Thomas and Lewis, who championed their world record run-chase against the Tallawahs, were now back in the pavilion with the score on just 28.
Medium-pacer Roshon Primus then got Jason Mohammed to chase a delivery down the leg side only to offer Boucher another catch behind the wicket as the Patriots slumped to 64 for three.
From there on it was the Lamichhane and Walsh show, with the latter executing a double blow to start a flow of Patriots wickets to and from the pavilion.
In the 12th over, Lamichhane first drew Shamarh Brooks down the pitch trying a shot, although he was not close enough to the pitch of the ball. Nurse made a meal of the catch but managed to hold on at long-off to dismiss Brooks for 13. Laurie Evans then tried an ill-advised sweep shot outside the off-stump and succeeded only in getting a top edge to Josh Lalor at short fine leg as the home side tottered to103-5. Evans went for a top-score of 64 from 41 balls with 10 fours and a six.
With the addition of just one run to the score, Walsh’s googly went right through Fabian Allen, another Tallawahs match hero, and shattered his stumps for a duck to spark wild celebrations from the Tridents, who were now sensing a first victory.
In the very next over, Patriots skipper Carlos Brathwaite failed to read two consecutive googlies from Lamichhane and was trapped in front by the second for just one – the Patriots now totally demoralised at 106-7.
But the heavens opened up before the over could be completed, forcing the players off the field. After a 43-minute rain delay, it did not take much longer for the Tridents to complete the victory, as Walsh (2/33) bagged another wicket and only a ninth-wicket 49-run partnership from Dominic Drakes and Alzarri Joseph from brought any joy for the home fans.
Lamichhane finished with three for 22 to earn the Man-of-the-match award.
Earlier, after putting a stranglehold on the Tridents batsmen in the first 15 overs, the Patriots allowed the third-wicket pair of Boucher and JP Duminy to milk 66 runs from the last five overs to take the visitors to a decent total.
Boucher got 62, his first CPL half-century, including four fours and three sixes, while Duminy hit an 18-ball 43 laced with two fours and four maximums. The pair came together after Johnson Charles was dismissed for 52 with the score on 113-2 in the 14th over and runs hard to come by on a two-aced pitch. But South African Duminy showed his experience in support of Boucher to give Patriots a challenging and what was an eventual winning total.
SUMMARISED SCORES:
BARBADOS TRIDENTS 186-2 (Leniko Boucher 62, Johnson Charles 52, JP Duminy 43, Usama Mir 1/30) v ST KITTS NEVIS PATRIOTS 168-9 (Laurie Evans 64, Dominic Drakes 34, Sandeep Lamichhane 3/22, Hayden Walsh 2/33, Jason Holder 2/37)
Result: BARBADOS TRIDENTS WON BY 18 RUNS
Man-of-the-Match: SANDEEP LAMICHHANE (BT)