Johnson Charles, David Wiese and the bowling crew led by Roston Chase wowed the crowd and the Trinbago Knight Riders at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) on Sunday night as they cruised to a one-run victory in the Caribbean Premier League.
Charles’ fourth half-century of the series and Wiese’s quick knock at the death took the Kings to 147 for six in their 20 overs before three early strikes from Chase pegged the Knight Riders back and denied the momentum home side match winner. And despite a couple of sixes and a four in the last over from Andre Russell (23 not out, 11 balls), TKR with the late finish were 146 for six.
It was the first loss in 11 in the BLCA for the Trinidad and Tobago franchise, but it was a well-deserved win for the ever-improving Kings. They moved to second place in the standings, while TKR dropped to fourth place.
Long off-spin Chase, taking the ball away from the left-handers and generating useful bounce, created early havoc in TKR’s innings, dismissing Leonardo Julien (two), Colin Munro (one) and Nicholas Pooran (zero) while TKR lost. their first three wickets for four runs in the space of ten balls in the Powerplay.
Wicketkeeper Tim Seifert (44, 44 balls) and captain Kieron Pollard (34, 23 balls) then produced their best knocks of the tournament to revive the innings, putting on 54 for the fourth wicket. But once Pollard was gone on 11th over – the first after the drinks break – the Kings bowlers took control with their disciplined line and variations. The highly impressive Alzarri Joseph (4-1-26-2), Roshan Primus (4-0-40-1) for the most part and Wiese (3-0-18-0) were all at the ball. They backed up their shots.
When Kings got the first toss, Charles again hit the ball with power and confidence to take his fourth CPL half – 54 off 46 deliveries. Two of his three sixes were smashed in the final Powerplay, Sunil Narine’s first.
Ace off-spinner Narine went for 19 runs in that over, the most he has ever conceded bowling in a CPL Powerplay, and the Kings finished the first six overs at 51 for one.
However, Charles’ effort came at a price as he picked up a leg injury which hampered his shot before being dropped by Ravi Rampaul on 12th tall. This was Rampaul’s second wicket in as many overs (2-0-10-2), the veteran seamer having Niroshan Dickwella caught at deep mid-wicket by Khary Pierre in the tenth over.
Rampaul’s timely interventions brought the Kings back. But he would do no more damage as he too suffered a leg injury that forced him off the field with Charles.
But Narine returned to pick up where Rampaul left off. He got Chase lbw in a controversial review decision. A second set of television replays seemed to suggest that Chase’s bat had made the faintest contact with the ball in attempting to sweep it. In his next 18ththe TV umpire again ruled in Narine’s favor at the expense of Adam Hose.
But Wiese then took the momentum away from the home side with two fours and three sixes in 33 off just 14 balls to push the Royals past the 140-run mark.
It looked a winning result given the teams’ struggles at Tarouba at the weekend and the Knight Riders’ long-running ineffectiveness with the willow.
So it proved to be.
Summary results:
Kings 147-6, 20 overs (Johnson Charles 54, David Wiese 33; Ravi Rampaul 2/10, Sunil Narine 2/31)
vs TKR 146-6, 20 overs (Time Seifert 44, Kieron Pollard 34, Andre Russell 23 no, Sunil Narine 19 no; Roston Chase 3/17, Alzarri Joseph 2/26)
—The Kings won by one run.
