Pollard, Peterson take Tridents two points clear

Kieron Pollard's unbeaten 59 and Robin Peterson's 3 for 13 set up a 17-run win for defending champions Barbados Tridents over Jamaica Tallawahs at Sabina Park. More importantly, the victory - Tridents' fifth of the season - helped them pull clear of Tallawahs by two points at the top of the table.

Tridents chose to bat and put on an opening stand of 31 before Jerome Taylor dismissed Dilshan Munaweera in the fifth over. Tridents lost three wickets for 33 runs during the middle overs and fell to 64 for 4, but Pollard and Jason Holder led a recovery be adding 58 runs for the fifth wicket, taking the team past 120. Pollard struck five fours and three sixes for his fifty, the batsman's second of the season. Andre Russell dismissed Holder and Navin Stewart in the 19th over to leave the visitors on 124 for 6, but the final over of Tridents' innings yielded 22 runs, with Pollard slamming two sixes and a four. His blitz meant that Tallawahs needed 147 for the win.

However, the hosts' chase did not begin well, as Ravi Rampaul dismissed the tournament's top run-getter Chris Gayle early to end an 18-run opening partnership. Peterson then spun Tallawahs into further trouble, picking up the wickets of Chris Lynn, Mahela Jayawardene and Jermaine Blackwood all in the fifth over to reduce the team to 36 for 4.

Chadwick Walton and Nkrumah Bonner revived the chase with a 67-run stand for the fifth wicket, but with the fall of Walton's wicket in the 16th over, Tallawahs chances of a win were dented. Holder then dismissed Andre Russell and Rusty Theron in the 18th over to all but seal the game.