Pollard ton ends St Lucia’s dry run
MUMBAI: Kieron Pollard notched his maiden T20 hundred as St Lucia Stars shrugged off their 14-match losing streak to beat Barbados Tridents by 38 runs, their first victory in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) since July 31, 2016.
Sent in, the Tridents were in a bit of a trouble early on with David Warner heading back to the pavilion for a duck. Rahkeem Cornwall (30 off 11 deliveries) did score a few quick runs but was dismissed by Wahab Riaz, who added a double whammy by trapping Lendl Simmons in front on the very next delivery.
With 57/3 after five overs, Andre Fletcher seemed to run out of partners when Pollard stepped up. Fletcher, batting on 24 off 15 deliveries then, continued to play his natural game while Pollard took the bowling attack to the cleaners.
It was such a day for Pollard that even shots off the toe-end of the bat would run down the thirdman corridor past Riaz while the ones he middled had destinations written all over them. Brute power aided with an attacking array of shots summed up his journey on the night, which he capped with a flat six down over long-on to reach the triple-figuremark. It also brought up the highest total in tournament’s history.
Fletcher continued to do what he has done best. If the opening 20-run over was any indication of how things were to unfold, Fletcher ensured the blueprint matched the final product. Having launched Mohd Irfan for two gigantic sixes followed by two glorious boundaries, the quick wickets seemed to have forced him to halt his style a bit. But with Pollard being his usual self, there was no holding back the secondhighest run-getter in the history of the CPL.