BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC South Africa’s star batsman AB de Villiers took charge of an innings which appeared to be in trouble with his first half century to steer Barbados Tridents to their first victory of the Caribbean Premier League here Tuesday.
De Villiers, considered one of the best batsmen in the world, shed poor form with a polished undefeated 63 which powered Tridents to a clinical seven wicket win over St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots at Warner Park. His masterful innings, propelled by two half century partnerships, first with Shoaib Malik and then with his captain Kieron Pollard, guided the Tridents to 166 for three after the homeside was restricted to 162 in 20 overs.
Malik scored 54 while Pollard supported with an unbeaten 25 as the game was slowly taken away from the Patriots whose total was boosted by an even century from the inform Evin Lewis and an ambitious 41 from Jonathan Carter.
De Villiers, awarded man-of-the-match, arrived at the crease with Tridents in a spot of trouble on 45 for two wickets and immediately stamped his authority on the match in style.
His 63 runs came up in 33 balls and featured five fours and three sixes, inspired by a 63 run third wicket stand with Malik and a fourth wicket partnership of 58 runs with Pollard.
Malik struck two fours and the same numbers of sixes while Pollard, who faced 13 balls, struck a six and three fours, including a square leg boundary to finish the match, as Tridents cruised home with eight deliveries to spare.
Patriots, who won the toss and decided to bat lost their first three wickets in the first six overs when opener Lendl Simmons, Captain Faf Du Plessis and Jon Jon Smuts fell cheaply.
Simmons departed, with some measure of hesitation, in the second ball of the innings after he squared -up to Khan’s good length ball outside the off stump for Nicholas Pooran to take the catch behind the wicket.
Tridents slipped into further trouble when captain De Plessis perished in the third over mistiming a ball on the middle stumps from Khan for Shoaib Malik to settle under it at long on.
And three overs later, the visitors slid again to forty for three when Smuts, who struck a couple boundaries attempted a second sweep shot and lost his off stump to Malik.
Lewis and Carter went about repairing the innings with a 54 run partnership for the fourth wicket but the inform Trinidadian batsman succumb after posting his second fifty in two matches.
Lewis, who faced 33 balls for his even 50 which included five fours and two sixes, attempted a pull shot off Khan but could not have eluded AB at midwicket who took an easy catch.
Devon Thomas joined Carter , who picked up the pace at Lewis’s departure, and together they put on an important partnership of 44 runs for the fifth wicket to push the total beyond the century mark.
Thomas, who scored 21 from 17 balls with one six, was run out on account of a comedy of errors in which the batsmen ended up next to each other as a result of poor calling.
Carter, who survived on 21 when Ashley Nurse dropped a straightforward catch at long-off, made the most of his life with his 41 featuring a four and three sixes.
However in the penultimate over of the innings he pulled a short ball from Ravi Rampaul straight to Wayne Parnell at mid- wicket.
Patriots was forced to soak up intense pressure and failed to make full use of the death overs losing four wickets and scoring just 24 runs in the finals four overs of the innings.
For Patriots, it was their third defeat in four home games of a disappointing series of matches at Warner Park.
Scoreboard
Patriots
LMP Simmons c †Pooran b Parnell 2
E Lewis c de Villiers b Khan 50
F du Plessis* c Shoaib Malik b Parnell 8
JT Smuts b Shoaib Malik 14
JL Carter c Parnell b Rampaul 41
DC Thomas† run out (Parnell) 21
CR Brathwaite c Pollard b Wiese 11
NLTC Perera c Pollard b Wiese 4
K Santokie not out 1
Extras ( (lb 2, w 8) 10
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 162
Did not bat:S Badree, T Shamsi
Fall of wickets 1-2 (Simmons, 0.2 ov), 2-21 (du Plessis, 2.6 ov), 3-40 (Smuts, 5.6 ov), 4-94 (Lewis, 12.3 ov), 5-138 (Thomas, 17.6 ov), 6-146 (Carter, 18.4 ov), 7-157 (Brathwaite, 19.2 ov), 8-162 (Perera, 19.6 ov)
Bowling: Parnell 4-0-22-2(2w),Rampaul 4-0-39-1 (2w), Malik 4-0-37-1, Nurse 1-0-12-0, Khan 3-0-27-1,Hosein 1-0-10-0(2w), Wiese 3-0-14-2(1w)
Tridents
SR Taylor c Shamsi b Perera 3
Shoaib Malik c du Plessis b Badree 54
WD Parnell c Brathwaite b Perera 16
AB de Villiers not out 63
KA Pollard* not out 25
Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 3) 5
Total (3 wickets; 18.4 overs) 166
Did not: Wiese, AR Nurse, I Khan, AJ Hosein, N Pooran†, R Rampaul
Fall of wickets 1-19 (Taylor, 3.1 ov), 2-45 (Parnell, 7.3 ov), 3-108 (Shoaib Malik, 13.6 ov)
Bowling: Santokie 3.4-0-26-0(2w), Badree 4-0-37-1, Brathwaite 3-0-20-0(1w), Perera 3-0-31-2,Shamsi 4-0-41-0,Smuts 1-0-9-0
Result: Tridents won by seven wickets.
Points: Tridents 2, Patriots 0.
Man-of-the-Match: AB de Villiers.
Toss: Patriots.
Umpires:P Nero, L Reifer; tv: J Ward
