Bowlers, McCullum power Trinbago back to the top of the table

McCullum starred in the chase of 129 with his first half-century of the Caribbean Premier League 2018 after Khary Pierre, Dwayne Bravo and Fawad Ahmed had struck with two wickets apiece to restricte Barbados to 128/8 in their 20 overs.

The victory propelled Trinbago back to the top of the points table, while Barbados continued to languish at second last out of six teams.

Shai Hope (42), Nicholas Pooran (34) and Jason Holder (30) had got starts for Barbados but due to continuous pressure from the opposition bowlers, they weren't able to rally together for a big score.

Holder, the Barbados captain, put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the batting unit, saying his side were at least 30-40 runs short. But he has called for his troops to stay calm as they have five games remaining to climb higher in the table.

"About 30-40 runs short, we didn't bat well enough. It was tough ask for our bowlers to defend that. We have to stay calm, still five games left. Can't look too far ahead. No need to panic. We've seen how quickly games can change," he said after his side's third loss in five games.

McCullum felt that the pitch in Bridgetown was sluggish and the key for him was to bat positively. "I wasn't comfortable on that wicket and (there were) a few demons from last year too. It was going through the top a little bit. Ball was stopping too," he said.

"Was trying to stay as positive as I can. On a pitch like this, it makes it hard to adjust to their (the bowlers') lengths. When you're chasing a low total, it's all about partnerships. Wanted to start off by batting outside leg, because it's hard to fiddle around the ball when it bounces like that."

Bravo, the Trinbago captain, was pleased by the team effort and stressed on the importance of including a variety of spinners in the line up.

"Coming in Barbados, it was going to be a challenge. Happy with the entire performance. To restrict a very good batting line-up to 128 after they decided to bat, happy days for us. We said in the dressing room it was good to have left-arm orthodox (Pierre), an off-spinner (Sunil Narine) and leg-spinner (Ahmed). We base our team around spinners and all-rounders. Great to see Khary going from strength to strength. Well played to McCullum, wasn't easy to bat on. He showed his class," said Bravo.