Brendon McCullum hammered eight boundaries and three sixes during his knock of 66

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Brendon McCullum smashed an entertaining 66 as the Trinbago Knight Riders took down the Barbados Tridents by four wickets.

Choosing to bat first, the Tridents found themselves in major trouble early on as they lost Dwayne Smith, Shamar Springer and Steve Smith on the seventh, eighth and 10th ball of the innings respectively.

With three wickets falling in four balls, Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran came to the rescue with a 70-run partnership before Pooran was clean bowled by Knight Riders captain Dwayne Bravo for 34.

Hope went on to score a 34-ball 42, which included five boundaries, before he was cleaned up by Fawad Ahmed.

Once Hope was gone, the Tridents began to collapse again, but captain Jason Holder struck a much-needed 30 to help his side finish on 128/8.

Bravo, Fawad and Khary Pierre picked up two wickets apiece, while Ali Khan chipped in with one.

Chasing 129 to win, the Knight Riders lost opener Chris Lynn early on as he was dismissed by Mohammad Irfan for eight runs.

Sunil Narine, who opened the batting with Lynn, only scored 13 runs before being dismissed in Irfan’s next over.

Colin Munro mustered 14 runs before he was clean bowled by Ashley Nurse.

Darren Bravo fell shortly after, but McCullum and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin steadied the innings with a 66-run partnership, during which McCullum surpassed his half-century.

Ramdin ended up making 20 before he was sent packing by Springer, while McCullum proceeded to score 66 off 42 balls, which included eight boundaries and three sixes, before he was caught and bowled by Smith.

Despite the loss of McCullum, the Knight Riders cruised to victory as they reached their target with 21 balls to spare.

Irfan was the most successful bowler with two wickets, while Nurse, Springer, Smith and Raymon Reifer claimed one wicket each.

McCullum was named Man of the Match.