Yesterday the fans witnessed the previous match had a margin of two runs but today something more was about to happen. St Kitts and Nevis opted to bat first and they were right up to some extent when Martin Guptill started hitting from one end at the beginning. The Patriots reached 36 runs in no time but Guptill got out suddenly and the score board went slow. Lewis and Marlon Samuels got slow start and was dismissed in the same over by Emrit. Jason Holder finished off his spell early like previous match but didn’t get any wicket this time.

The middle order progressed slowly and the wickets kept on falling. Shahid Afridi played a cameo by hitting two sixes in his 10 ball innings. Later in the innings, Brathwaite hit two more sixes to score a quick fire 22 runs in 11 balls to take the Patriots to a respectable position. The Patriots managed 143 in 20 overs. Kieron Pollard, Emrit and Ravi Rampaul picked up two wickets each.

The reigning champions Barbados Tridents had an easy task to chase down the target also when they are in supreme form by winning their first three matches of the tournament. But the Patriots’ bowlers maintained good line in the power play and the Tridents’ openers managed only 16 runs in the first 6 overs.

Pressure was building for the batting side and then Sheldon Cottrell picked up two wickets in 3 balls and celebrated by doing a march past and then salute both Dwayne Smith and Jonathan Carter in a funny gesture. Pollard and Shoaib Malik tried to settle down and started off slowly. The run rate was rising but the duo had no intention to hit the ball. It was then the 13^th over when Pollard attacked Tabraiz Shaimsi for 18 runs. Then Malik too hit Afridi for a massive six before getting stumped off the same bowler.

Pollard was hitting quite well from the other end and reached his 28^th t20 fifty in style. Holder and Petersen did not disturbed the score board. 37 was required off the last three overs. Pollard going according to the required run rate. Sohail Tanvir bowled an excellent 19^th over by just giving 9 runs and finished off with 2 for 15 in his four overs. A third umpiring error denied the Tridents a clear boundary when Afridi couldn’t cleanly stop a ball at the boundary which proved costly later in the match.

Last over Tridents require 19 runs and Pollard was on strike. He missed the first ball off Peters but he recovered quite well by hitting the next two balls for a six and a four. He then took a single to leave Navin Stewart 7 runs off last two balls. Stewart managed to edge the next ball but was ran out on the last ball to lose the match by just 1 run.

The Tridents lost their first match of the tournament and the Patriots won their first. Kieron Pollard was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant 82 and 2 wickets.

Match Summary