Sunil Narine picked up two wickets and followed up with his first half-century in more than two years as Trinbago Knight Riders ended a three-match losing streak and strolled past Barbados Tridents by seven wickets at Queen’s Park Oval.

Narine had returned to the top of the order in TKR’s previous game against St Lucia Kings and scored a 14-ball 25. Here he went longer and with a bigger impact, hitting six sixes in a 33-ball 55, his first T20 half-century since May 2024. His innings, and his 96-run opening stand with Colin Munro, who scored a 26-ball 37, put TKR well on the road to victory in a modest chase of 128 that they eventually completed with 31 balls remaining.

The foundations of TKR’s win were put in place by their bowlers, with Narine and Usman Tariq leading a successful strangle by a four-man spin attack that sent down 15 of the 20 overs Tridents faced. Narine opened the bowling, set the tone with a one-run first over, and finished with figures of 2 for 14 from his four overs. Tariq was even more economical, taking 1 for 11. Akeal Hosein and Jyd Goolie did their bit with a wicket apiece, and Kieron Pollard was hugely effective with his medium-pace, taking 2 for 19 in three overs.

Tridents’ batters struggled to put the bowling away, with four members of the top five ending up with sub-100 strike rates despite facing 10 or more balls and the fifth, opener Zachary Carter, scoring 28 off 27.

The only real impetus came towards the end, with Tridents captain Chris Green hitting two sixes in a 17-ball 27 at No. 6, and Rivaldo Clarke hitting three fours in the last two overs to finish unbeaten on 15 off seven.