Trinbago Knight Riders are back in playoff contention in the Hero Caribbean Premier League. And captain Kieron Pollard and leading man Akeal Hosein have hailed the impact of the home support.
A crowd dressed mostly in TKR red packed the Queen’s Park Oval on Wednesday night and saw the Knight Riders bounce back from their comprehensive eight-wicket loss to table-toppers Barbados Royals on Tuesday with a 26-run win over the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
The win pushed TKR from bottom to fourth, and speaking after the game, Pollard said the crowd “deserved a win tonight”.
He explained: “They supported us in the first game (against the Royals) and then came out tonight in their numbers to support us, so we just want to say thank you very much. They were the 12th man for us and that support goes a long way.”
Hosein shared his captain’s thoughts on the impact of the home support.
“We are very grateful to the fans who came out and were our 12th man and gave us that energy. Getting a win and a win like this always does wonders for a team, so I hope we can take that energy from Brian Lara (Cricket Academy) as well,” he said.
Left-arm spinner Hosein returned from injury to play his part in the three-wicket win for 36 runs as Amazon Warriors were bowled out for 124 as they unsuccessfully chased down TKR’s total of 150 for eight.
“Watching my team lose game after game… It was painful to be on the bench and I’m very thankful that I was able to come out today and give that kind of effort to get my team over the line,” Hosein told the media.
Before Tuesday, Hosein had not played since being man of the match in TKR’s only win so far this season, against the St Lucia Kings.
However, he said he is still not fully fit.
“Not a hundred per cent, but having said that, the medical team have worked extremely hard to get me up to standard, so I’m grateful for the work they’re doing and I’ll take it easy and hopefully I can get back to 100 per cent too quickly,” he said.
Pollard was also aware of the impact Hosein had along with the other spinner used on Wednesday, Man-of-the-Match Sunil Narine (4-0-9-2).
“Akeal is back in the 11, goes into the first innings, gets hit for three sixes (by Heinrich Klaasen) and shows that courage, and of course Sunil Narine, the way he bowled, it’s a joy for any captain to have someone. like him,” said the captain.
Apart from his wickets, Narine also contributed 26 off 20 balls to help TKR claim their highest total of the season. Narine’s feat came after Colin Munro had top-scored with 42 and laid the foundations with wicketkeeper Tim Seifert in a 51-run stand for the third wicket.
Pollard praised the “purpose” shown by Munro and also the overall application of his players as they work towards building a winning streak.
“Things haven’t gone the way we would have liked, but one thing I can say, though, the boys come every day, every day; practice it… and we finally got that win at home and hopefully we can come back, see where we can still do better and go into the next two games at Brian Lara.”
TKR will play Jamaica Tallwahs tomorrow before concluding the series in Trinidad and Tobago against the Kings on Sunday, both matches will be at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba.
And while Pollard will expect further improvement from his side, he will be hoping for more of the same from TKR’s ’12th man’ in the South.
