Smith ton leads Tridents to easy win

An unbeaten century by Dwayne Smith lit up the Kensington Oval, helping Barbados Tridents to a comfortable 29-run win against St Lucia Zouks but sparks also flew elsewhere. Tino Best and Shoaib Malik were involved in an altercation after the bowler dismissed the batsman, his celebration littered with choice words. Malik returned the favour before the umpire's intervened.

However, the incident had no bearing on the cricket being played. Malik had scored 49, Tridents were 128 in the 15th over and Smith was cruising along at 71. There was no let off in the remaining 5.1 overs: Smith fired up a late surge adding 58 runs in the period. He reached his second T20 century of the penultimate ball of the innings with a six over midwicket of Sohail Tanvir and celebrated it with another six off the last ball.

The innings had started in a similar flourish. Zouks opted to bowl but the first ball, bowled by Roelof van de Merwe, was cut past point for a boundary by Smith. It wasn't a one off. Smith launched a four and a six over mid-off before cutting one through to the point boundary to make it 18 off the first over. Tanvir struck of his first ball from the other end, but that proved to be their only positive in the next 13.4 overs.

Smith and Malik partnered in an 110-run association that set up the foundation for a huge total. The two took their time taking 34 runs in their first six overs and apart from an odd boundary, didn't look to press on. Smith reached his half-century in the 11th over, off 39 balls. The innings got a boost in the 15th over when both Smith and Malik launched into Best, taking 15 runs off his first four balls. Best uprooted Malik's leg stump in the fifth delivery, but the momentum had been shifted. Smith continued his merry six-hitting ways and ended up with a tally of eight hits overs the boundary.

Zouks needed a strong start to their innings but their top-order batsmen were unable to string major partnerships together. By the time Darren Sammy was dismissed, for a duck, in the 14th over, the chase had gone out of hand. Zouks needed 108 off 42 balls at that stage and although Tanvir and Keddy Lesporis made a valiant effort, their unbeaten 78-run stand fell much short of the target.