CPL 2019: Warriors lose fifth final as Tridents romp to title victory
Barbados Tridents on Saturday lifted their second Caribbean Premier League title with a 27-run win in the final against the Guyana Amazon Warriors in Trinidad. The loss ended Warriors’ record 11-match winning streak in this year’s tournament.
Time for a Drink! The celebrations are pretty lit at the moment for Barbados Tridents #CPL19 #Biggestpartyinsport #CPLFinal #CricketPlayedLouder pic.twitter.com/G3bG0wzCsm
— CPL T20 (@CPL) October 13, 2019
Captain Jason Holder won the toss for Barbados and elected to bat first at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba. Openers Johnson Charles (39) and Alex Hales (28) got off to a steady start, stitching a 43-run stand for the first wicket inside the first six overs. Hales’ blazing start, however, was brought to an abrupt end by Romario Shepherd as he got the batsman to miscue a length ball. His dismissal brought the Warriors a flurry of wickets and with the top three back in the hut by the 10th over, Tridents were reeling at 73/3.
Carter carts his way to a fifty
Shakib Al Hasan then joined wicket-keeper Shai Hope in the middle but the duo could only add 15 runs to their partnership. The latter, struggling with a 12-ball 8 fell to his fellow countryman Keemo Paul who got him to whip one on the leg side. Shakib continued to keep the scoreboard ticking but lost captain Holder to a sizzling run-out by Paul & Nicholas Pooran.
The star of the Tridents’ batting attack was undoubtedly Jonathan Carter, who slammed a 27-ball fifty that included 4 fours and 4 sixes. His acceleration brought the momentum back in the Tridents’ camp as they crossed the 150-run mark in quick time. Shakib departed to another run-out by the Paul/Pooran combo, but Ashley Nurse played the perfect second fiddle to Carter with his 15-ball 19. The Tridents finished with 171/6 in 20 overs.
Reifer rips the Warriors
Faced with a steep target, the Warriors lost opener Chandrapaul Hemraj and Shimron Hetmyer in back-to-back overs of left-arm pacer Raymon Reifer. At the other end, Brandon King took matters in his own hands and continued to score quickly. His 33-ball 43 comprised of 4 fours, a six and two 20-plus stands with the middle order.
But even amid the run-scoring, Warriors kept losing wickets at regular intervals courtesy Nurse and Harry Gurney who bagged a couple of wickets each. Nicholas Pooran (24), Shane Rutherford (15) and Paul (25) showed some resistance but in vain. Reifer then returned to dislodge the lower-middle order and finished with impressive figures of 4/24. Scoring at a run-rate of 7.2, the Warriors ended up 27 runs short at 144/9 in 20 overs.
So close, yet so far
Coming into the finals of CPL 2019, the Guyana Amazon Warriors were on an unbeaten winning streak. Having won all of their 10 league matches, they went on to beat the Tridents by 30 runs in the first qualifier. Brandon King’s unbeaten 132 set the tone in a must-win match for the Warriors, who became the first finalists of the season. As luck would have it, the Tridents also eventually reached the final by beating the Trinbago Knight Riders in the second qualifier. In a repeat clash of Qualifier 1, it was the Tridents who emerged winners for the second time in CPL history.
This was the Warriors’ fifth loss in a final since the tournament’s inception in 2013, their second against the Tridents. In the final of the 2014 edition, they missed out on the trophy against the Tridents, who won the match by 8 runs thanks to the D/L method. They then made it to four more finals, including this year, but are yet to win their maiden CPL title.
