Kieron Pollard, Colin Munro, Darren Bravo overpower Barbados Tridents
Trinbago Knight Riders 185 for 3 (Bravo 54*, Munro 50, Pollard 41*, Nurse 1-20) beat Barbados Tridents 166 for 6 (Charles 52, Ahmed 1-14) by 19 runs
Half-centuries from Colin Munro and Darren Bravo, who also shared in a 98-run stand with Kieron Pollard, propelled the Trinbago Knight Riders to the highest score of this year's CPL and the top of the points' table. The defending champion Barbados Tridents made a fist of the chase, and were ahead of the required run-rate after the PowerPlay but could not sustain their scoring. They remain in the bottom half of the table.
Knight Riders picked up pace after a watchful start which brought just 27 runs in the first five overs. They scored at more than 10 runs an over for the remainder of their innings, giving Tridents a mountain to climb in response. Tridents' innings played out in opposite fashion. They raced to 68 inside eight overs, thanks largely to Johnson Charles' 52, but then lost three wickets for seven runs, leaving the middle order with too much to do in the second half of the innings.
Nursing the scoring rate
Ashley Nurse was the first spinner Jason Holder turned to immediately after the Powerplay, just as Munro had started to free his arms, and he proved the most economical of the Tridents' attack. Nurse found turn and grip on a wearing surface and would have had Sunil Narine's wicket at the start of his second over but Shai Hope could not hold on to a thick outside edge. Narine only lasted until the next over anyway, as Nurse and Raymon Reifer kept the Knight Riders' fairly quiet. Nurse was the only bowler to concede less than eight runs an over and was eventually rewarded when Munro slogged his final ball to deep midwicket, where Rashid Khan took a tumbling catch.
The One-Handed Six Specialist and his 3,000 run partner
Knight Riders entered the last four overs with a strong foundation of 116 for 3 and then upped the ante. Mitchell Santner's only over cost 19 runs and included Pollard fetching a wide delivery with one hand to send it down the ground for six. At the end of the next over, Pollard pulled it off again, this time against Reifer, who bowled it too full. Pollard took his bottom-hand off the bat to get under the ball and hoist it over long-on. And in the over after that, Darren Bravo reached the milestone of 3,000 T20 runs when he belted a low-full toss from Jason Holder down the ground for four. The Knight Riders' scored 69 runs in the last four overs, 52 of them in boundaries.
Not quite brotherly love
Only the off-side seemed to get the better of Charles, who all but three of his 52 runs on the other side of the field, but Dwayne Bravo could have caused Charles trouble with his first ball. Charles hit Dwayne to the left of deep midwicket, who just happened to be Bravo's little brother, Darren, who ran and dived and tried to hold on but couldn't. Worse than the missed chance, or that Charles was on a roll, was that the wicket would have been Dwayne's 500th. Darren made amends when he took the catch that dismissed Kyle Mayers but Dwayne will have to wait for the next match to take his milestone wicket.
Back of the bat and back to the changeroom
Pollard was not the only innovative stroke-maker on the day. Jonathan Carter, whose contribution was a mere 8, scored four of them off the back of his bat when he got down on one knee to scoop Dwayne Bravo over fine leg. Carter switched his stance but not his bat and instead of turning it around in his hands, just used the other side. He wasn't able to provide much more entertainment though. He lost his leg stump to Ali Khan and the most exuberant celebration in the two overs later. Apart from the customary fast-bowlers' roar, Ali ripped off his sweat band and chucked it away in delight.