The Hobart Hurricanes booked a semifinals berth in the Champions League T20 by winning their third consecutive match of the tournament at the PCA Stadium, Mohali. They defeated the Barbados Tridents by six wickets to register a clinical win today, with ten balls to spare.
Shoaib Malik, who played for the Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), was the nemesis for the West Indian team and anchored the innings to drive the Hurricanes home. Malik made a patient 35-ball 39 and remained unbeaten till the end.
The Pakistan international stitched a crucial, unbeaten 46 runs partnership with Jonathan Wells (23 not out) and recused Hobart from a tight situation. Barbados, despite setting a below par 114 runs target on the board, fought hard but the fielding let them down.
Barbados failed to take catches on crucial junctures and the Hurricanes made the most of the opportunity to display a clinical performance. They, however, put Hobart under pressure by taking three wickets for just 54 runs but Malik made sure that it would not result in a panic.
“One thing was in my mind that in this slow pitch, someone had to bat through,” Malik said in the post-match presentation. “If they had taken those catches, things could have been different. But credit must go to our bowlers.”
Earlier, put into bat, the Tridents never looked comfortable against the formidable Hobart attack. They were rocked early when Neil McKenzie was dismissed by Doug Bollinger for a duck. The Tridents lost wickets on regular intervals and never looked like putting a good total on the board.
Jonathan Carter, however, made a fighting 34-ball 42 but Xavier Doherty, who finished with four wickets, ended his resistance and any chance of Barbados revival. The Hurricanes storm through the lower-order and bundled the Caribbean outfit in 19.4 over for 113.
“The guys gave a good effort, still we dropped a couple of catches,” Barbados skipper Rayad Emrit said about his team’s performance. “That probably cost us the match. Still there were not enough runs on the board.”
