The Trinbago Knight Riders closed off their home leg of the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League with a solid 30-run victory over the Barbados Royals in front of a sold-out Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba last night.
Friday night traffic saw fans streaming into the venue well after the delayed 8.15 p.m. start, but the wait would have been well worth it in the end, with the home side, rallying from 35 for three to post a competitive 175 for seven after they were asked to bat first.
TKR skipper Kieron Pollard led from the front with 42 off 27 balls, while Keacy Carty (32 off 34), Andre Russell (31 off 12) and Nicholas Pooran (27 off 15) all chipped in to help the recovery effort.
In reply, the Royals reached 145 for nine to end their group stage campaign in fourth place.
The Royals had a shaky start to the run chase after left arm spinner and eventual Player-of-the-Match Akeal Hosein grabbed two early wickets, removing both openers Kadeem Alleyne (zero) and Quinton de Kock (eight) to put the visitors under some early pressure.
But Alick Athanaze smacked a six and four off Tim David to take the Royals to 44 for two at the end of the Powerplay.
TKR tightened the screws in the next four overs and despite a six by Athanaze off left-arm wrist spinner Waqar Salamkheil, the Royals were kept to 66 for two at the half-way mark.
Hosein grabbed his third wicket of the match in the next over when he held on to a tough return catch to send back Kevin Wickham for 23. But Athanze continued to shine with a pair of sixes off Salamkheil before he was caught by Chirs Jordan for 44 off 33 balls, with 90 runs still needed off 42 balls.
David Miller, dropped by Salamheil in the previous over bowled by Terrance Hinds, struck the pacer, Jordan, for two sixes and two fours in the next over, taking the score 117 before eventually falling to Salamkheil for 30, with 59 now needed off 27 balls.
Rovman Powell slammed seamer Hinds for 18 in the next over, leaving the Royals with 40 more to get in the final three .
Jordan also accounted for Jason Holder, caught by Pollard for four, while Hinds got the big scalp of Powell for 18 in the penultimate over to all but seal the win.
The victory takes TKR to 12 points with one match to play against the Guyana Amazon Warriors at Providence in Guyana tomorrow.
Earlier with the bat, TKR struggled at the start, with Jason Roy being bowled by Maheesh Theekshana for zero off the third ball of the game.
However, Pooran gave the fans some excitement, the left-hander pulling the spinner for four before cutting one to the point boundary to go past 300 runs in the tournament.
Pooran top-edged a pull over wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock for the first six of the match off Naveen-ul-Haq and got a leading edge that went behind for four.
But Pooran’s luck ran out on the same over when he gloved one to De Kock, falling for 27 off 15 balls as TKR slipped to 33 for two after four overs.
The Royals continued to apply the pressure, with Jason Holder sending back fellow Barbadian Shaqkere Parris for five in the next over the hosts ended the six-over Powerplay on 37 for three.
After four quiet overs, Keacy Carty released the shackles with a four off Ramon Simmonds in the tenth over, with TKR reaching the half-way point with the score on 58 for three.
Carty, who scored 32 off 34 balls, got a reprieve from the TV umpire after he was apparently run out by Rovman Powell when replays showed that the Royals skipper dislodged one bail with his hand after failing to collected the ball cleanly. However, the ball went through Powell’s hand and went on to dislodge the second bail but the batter was given not out.
Pollard ended the over with a six which signalled the start of a period of acceleration for the hosts.
The sold-out stadium went wild when Pollard smashed three consecutive sixes in the next over off left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj to take the score to 97 after 13 overs.
Carty got into the action with a six carved over point off Naveen-Ul-Haq to take the hosts to triple digits but the bowler struck back two balls later with Carty popping one up for De Kock to take an easy catch with the score on 105 for four after 13.3 overs.
But Andre Russell came out with guns blazing, smashing Holder for a couple of sixes. However, TKR continued losing wickets, this time Pollard was caught off a top-edge by Maharaj off Theekshana for 42 (27 balls), chasing a delivery pitched wide, with the score on 135 for five with 3.5 overs to go.
Russell was eventually out for 31 off 12 as TKR posted what turned out to be a winning total as they secured their sixth win of the campaign.
Summarised scores:
TKR 175-5, 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 42, Keacy Carty 32, Andre Russell 31, Nicholas Pooran 27; Maheesh Theekshana 3/35, Naveen-ul-Haq 3/35)
vs ROYALS145-9, 20 overs (Alick Athanaze 44, David Miller 30; Akeal Hosein 3/15, Terrance Hinds 2/22, Chris Jordan 3/33)
–TKR won by 30 runs.