Barbados Tridents defeated Trinbago Knight Riders in the qualifier 2 to reach finals played at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, Trinidad on Thursday.
Trinbago captain Kieron Pollard won the toss and decided to field first. It was a flying start by Barbados opener Johnson Charles who took on the Trinbago bowlers. Khary Pierre got the breakthrough for the hosts as he dismissed Alex Hales for 10. Tridents openers added 27 runs for the opening wicket. At the end of 6 overs, Barbados Tridents scored 31 for 1.
After the power play overs, Charles played with positive intent and put pressure on the TKR bowlers. Tridents batsmen got starts but could not convert into big scores. Tridents wicket-keeper Shai Hope scored 23 off 18 balls. Struggling at 112 for 6, Raymon Reifer and Ashely Nurse added unbeaten 48 runs for the 7th wicket which helped Barbados Tridents post 160 for 6. Ali Khan, Khary Pierre and Chris Jordan took 2 wickets each. Nurse scored a quick 24 off 9 balls while Reifer made 24 off 18 balls.
Chasing the target of 161 runs to win, Sunil Narine was aggressive with his stroke play scoring a quickfire 17 off 8 balls. Tridents captain Jason Holder got the breakthrough dismissing Lendl Simmons for 1. Harry Gurney dismissed the dangerous Sunil Narine to put TKR under pressure. Colin Munro and Denesh Ramdin struggled to score against the Tridents spinners. At the end of 6 overs, TKR were 50 for 2.
After the power play overs, Walsh Jr created pressure on Darren Bravo and Colin Munro by not allowing them to score runs easily. Ashley Nurse got wickets of Munro and Darren Bravo in quick succession to put TKR team under pressure. TKR captain Kieron Pollard came to the crease and showed his class with big hitting. On the other hand, Ramdin was struggling to score runs. Ashley Nurse struck again getting Ramdin for 21. Sekkuge Prasanna showed his class with great power hitting which put Barbados Tridents bowlers under pressure.
Pollard was also looking dangerous to take the game away from Tridents. Hayden Walsh Jr produced a brilliant run out to dismiss TKR captain Pollard for 23. Prasanna kept the hopes of TKR alive with great hitting and reached his fifty off 22 balls. With 14 runs required off final over, Reifer dismissed Prasanna and Pierre to help Barbados Tridents win the match by 12 runs.
Barbados Tridents 160 for 6 in 20 overs (Johnson Charles 35, Ashley Nurse 24*, Reifer 24*, Khary Pierre 2/25) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 148 in 19.3 overs ( Sekkuge Prasanna 51, Ashley Nurse 2/14) by 12 runs.
Barbados Tridents and Guyana Amazon Warriors will face off each other in the finals to be played on 12th October.
