BASSETERRE, St Kitts, CMC – Trinbago Knight Riders inched towards the top of the Caribbean Premier League standings with a completely dominant 75-run victory over Jamaica Tallawahs, who lost their third on the trot to continue their stagnation in the tournament.
Asked to bat first at Warner Park here yesterday, TKR rallied to 167 for four off their 20 overs with opener Lendl Simmons top-scoring with 42 off 39 balls and captain Kieron Pollard belting an 18-ball unbeaten 39.
They were only 93 for three after 15 overs but hastily gathered an astonishing 74 runs from the last five overs, courtesy of a 62-run, unbroken fifth partnership between Pollard and wicketkeeper Tim Seifert whose unbeaten 24 came from just eight balls.
In reply, Tallawahs slumped to 21 for four in the fifth over and never recovered as fast bowler Ali Khan sliced through the innings with four for six from his three overs. Off-spinner Sunil Narine (2-11) and pacer Ravi Rampaul (2-29) supported well.
Captain Rovman Powell was the only batsmen to pass 20 with 22 as Tallawahs’ batting flopped spectacularly for the second straight game to scrape 92 all out with 10 balls remaining.
“That’s some area for concern now,” Powell conceded regarding his side’s recent batting failures.
“It’s happened in two games now and we go again tomorrow but hopefully overnight the guys can get it right. We have to sit down and keep building our plans. We’re still a good team. Two games don’t make us a bad team.”
While Tallawahs remain one from bottom on four points, TKR moved into second on eight points, now only two adrift of leaders St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
Despite the late charge at the end of their innings, Pollard said the batting effort had not been “ideal”.
“Obviously it was not the ideal sort of position you want to be in after 17 overs but again you have to take the conditions into consideration,” Pollard explained.
“We lost our two set batters there in the middle and new batters coming in trying to get set on that wicket was always going to be difficult.
“I thought it was a total team effort from a batting perspective. It wasn’t going to be easy and getting 160-odd I thought we were right into the game.”
Simmons provided the early momentum, stroking three fours and a six and posting 46 for the first wicket with Leonardo Julien (17) and a further 38 for the second wicket with Colin Munro (14).
When three wickets tumbled for 21 runs in the space of 27 balls, TKR were stumbling on 105 for four in the 18th over before Pollard lashed a four and four sixes and Seifert, a couple of fours and sixes, to rally the innings.
“We just didn’t bowl to our plan. We had a plan to keep them away from the small side and we bowled too straight,” Powell groaned.
“I think it comes down to execution. If we had executed better in the last three, four overs we would’ve been saying a different thing.”
Ali Khan quickly put TKR on top by removing both openers Haider Ali (7) and Kennar Lewis (1) to catches at the wicket, with Shamarh Brooks becoming the bowler’s third victim four balls after Lewis, also taken by Seifert behind without scoring in the third over.
Powell and Jason Mohammed (11) added 39 for the fifth wicket but they fell in successive overs as the last six wickets went down for 32 runs.
