Barbados Tridents will be seeking to take advantage of an under-pressure Jamaica Tallawahs when the two sides meet at Fort Lauderhill, Florida for a highly-anticipated Match 14 which bowls off at 18:00h tonight.
After losing back-to-back games versus the Guyana Amazon Warriors followed by defending champs Trinbago Knight Riders; the Tallawahs are seemingly under some sort of pressure having lost two games at this year’s second home venue in Florida. The Tallawahs also played two of their matches at their traditional home venue, Sabina Park where they beat St Lucia Stars and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots easily.
Andre Russell, the Jamaica captain, voiced his concerns following their huge loss to Guyana a few days ago. The all-rounder said the crowd was not a home crowd as they Tallawahs felt the advantage was with the Amazon Warriors. Fast-forward and the Tallawahs were again mauled in their next game by TKR; highlighting that the issues are more mental than atmospheric.
Jamaica, up until running into a rampant Shimron Hetmyer were the unbeaten table-toppers. Now slipping to third place they will need to regroup against Barbados who are in fourth place but are looking more ominous as they progress. Barbados got their campaign off to a good start by beating then then unbeaten Warriors at home in their third game at Providence.
However, they succumbed to a fired up St Lucia Stars who broke their horrid run against them by racking up a record 226 run total to win their first game in 15 matches. Jason Holder’s Tridents still need something big from their openers Dwayne Smith who peaked with a fifty against the Stars and Martin Guptill who has remained quiet to date.
With a solid middle-order inclusive of an in-form Shai Hope, a recently landed Hashim Amla, a progressing Steven Smith and a dangerous-looking Nicholas Pooran; the Tridents just need their world-class batsmen to fire on all cylinders against the Jamaican bowlers who will want to end on a winning note as they head on the road again after tonight’s final home game at the Central Broward Regional Park in Fort Lauderdale.
With Russell and company looking to bounce back, it is expected that the Tridents bowlers will be targeted; meaning Mohammed Irfan, Raymon Reifer and Holder will need to tighten up while left-arm speedster Wahab Riaz remains their x-factor with his pace and accuracy.
After being toyed with by Guyana and TKR; the Jamaicans will be looking to set another huge total as they have been doing recently. The dynamo Glenn Phillips has been is exhilarating batting form, missing a ton by 20 runs versus TKR while his partner at the top of the order Kennar Lewis has some runs under his belt and will look to get back to his scoring.
Ross Taylor remains the rock with his experience and his good form this season while Russell and Rovman Powell will want to forget about their previous woes and get back to their rapid scoring. They will also want more from their bowlers; Oshane Thomas and Krishmar Santokie have been doing well but will need to step up their games.
Veteran Samuel Badree, Imad Wasim who took some uncharacteristic “Stick” in his past few games could turn things around in the spin department should they click while Russell will also want to play a role with the ball; especially with a hat-trick under his belt a few matches ago.
The Tallawahs have 6 points after their amazing start while the 4th place Tridents will want to desperately improve on their rankings and add to their 2 points.
The first ball is at 18:00h. (Clifton Ross)
