KINGSMEN LOSE CLOSE CPL ENCOUNTER AT SABINA PARK

Jamaica Kingsmen came out on the losing end of yet another tightly contested encounter losing to the Barbados Tridents by 5 runs in the first CPL match at Sabina Park since 2019.

Tridents sent into bat started out firing with West Indies under-19 standout Zachary Carter in his CPL debut played a entertaining 27 from 15 balls opening the batting before being dismissed by Jediah Blades. Brandon King led the scoring with 73 runs anchoring the Tridents batting forming crucial partnerships along the way. He put on a 72-run stand with Quinton De Kock (42) and a brilliant 93 run partnership with fellow West Indian Sherfane Rutherford who scored an unbeaten 50 as Barbados Tridents amassed 206-for-3 from their 20 overs. Jediah Blades, Andre Russell and Hassan Khan got a wicket each.

In reply, the Kingsmen were left shell shocked as the Australian duo of Chris Green and Daniel Sams wreaked havoc in the first two overs. Chris Green sent back Shayan Jahangir for a duck before Sams bowled both Reeza Hendricks for 2 and Kirk McKenzie without scoring to leave Kingsmen reeling at 12-for-3 after 2 overs. Kingsmen continued losing wickets at regular intervals before Andre Russell and Keacy Carty brought back life into the chase with a 72-run partnership on the back of some powerful six hitting before Carty got dismissed by Sams in the 14th over.

Vitel Lawse joined Russell in the middle and the six hitting assault continued as the pair put on 69 runs 8th wicket partnership giving hope to fans. Their efforts fell agonizingly short as they needed 15 from the final over, Ramon Simmonds held his nerve removing Andre Russell for 68 and Vitel Lawes via the run out route. Kingsmen finished 5-run short of the target on 201-for-9

An obviously disappointed Rovman Powell said, “I think we wanted to start a little bit better as a bowling group. We've been struggling a bit and not stringing consistently good overs together. Also, if you're three or four down in the powerplay, you generally go on to lose the game. But having said that, I think Russell played extremely well, young Vital Lawes and young Keacy Carty did as well.

Kingsmen are winless after two matches and will next play the Guyana Amazon Warriors 7pm on Thursday at Sabina Park