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AKEAL Hosein led with an inspired blowing performance but Lendl Simmons' knock of 70 and three catches, on Sunday, saw reigning Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 champions Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) defeat the Jamaica Tallawahs by seven wickets, with three overs to spare.
The much-needed victory follows the TKR's super over loss to the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Wednesday. The TKR will again face the Tallawahs on Tuesday. The win put TKR third in the six-team standings with six points and a net run rate of 0.515.
In their latest effort at Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts, however, TKR's blushes were spared since the result could have gone the other way, had the Tallawahs been more clinical in the field.
The TKR won the toss, chose to field, and quickly executed the game plan. But after a brilliant first few overs, TKR players were left wondering how the Tallawahs managed to finish with a respectable and relatively competitive 144 runs.
[caption id="attachment_911348" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Ravi Rampaul (2R) and Kieron Pollard (R) of Trinbago Knight Riders celebrate the dismissal of Kirk Mckenzie (L) of Jamaica Tallawahs during the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League match 18 at Warner Park Sporting Complex on Sunday in Basseterre, St Kitts. Photo courtesy CPL T20[/caption]
Simmons said he would always have been happy with that score.
"We know that partnerships do happen and (we knew) at some point in time, they would get their (partnership)," Simmons said during the post-match interview.
"(If told before the game) we would have them for 140-something, we would (have taken) that any day and seeing that it was a good batting track, we backed our batsmen to go out there and get there runs.
"I took pride in my performance because I have not been living up to my reputation for the past five games so I've come to the party now.
Hosein was at his best for the TKR, claiming a pair of wickets, while conceding just 12 runs from four overs, while Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul and captain Kieron Pollard, all kept the Tallawahs at bay for the first half of their batting performance.
The match had every indication of a walk in the park for TKR, since it took Hosein only two deliveries in the first over to claim Kennar Lewis' scalp with a delivery caught easily by Colin Munro.
TKR looked in record-setting form all the way up the ten-over mark, having taking five wickets and restricting the Tallawahs to just 34 runs.
Rampaul claimed his second wicket with the first ball of the third over, with Simmons, taking a catch off Haider Ali's poorly measured strike.
Two balls later, Rampaul got his second wicket, foiling Kirk McKenzie with a slow ball, with Ramdin taking the catch.
The Tallawahs finally got their first boundary in the fourth over, with Mohammed smashing a short ball from Hosein, only for Mohammed to be sent to the pavilion after Hosein's very next delivery, again caught by Simmons.
Narine took a wicket in the sixth over when his delivery to Powell was caught cleverly by Simmons for his third assist.
By then, the Tallawahs lost half its side within the powerplay.
However, they surprisingly crawled back into the match following Imad Wasim and the Tallawah's first six-run boundary in the fourth delivery of the tenth over.
Wasim and Carlos Brathwaite went on to form an unlikely partnership, eventually putting the TKR under unexpected pressure.
Wasim was eventually caught by Darren Bravo off a delivery from Sri Lankan Isuru Udana, who was particularly expensive, taking one wicket and conceding 49 runs in three overs.
Udana, however, halted a strengthening partnership between Brathwaite and Imad Wasim, taking a wicket against the latter after he scored 42 runs.
[caption id="attachment_911347" align="alignnone" width="819"] Sunil Narine (L) of Trinbago Knight Riders celebrates the dismissal of Rovman Powell (R) of Jamaica Tallawahs during the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League match 18 at Warner Park Sporting Complex on Sunday, in Basseterre, St Kitts. Photo courtesy CPL T20[/caption]
Braithwaite went onto lead the Tallawahs' batsmen with 58 runs, and was run out with one delivery remaining while Andre Russell ended with 20 not out after smashing a six in the last ball of the innings.
In the end, Hosein ended on 2/12 for the TKR, with Rampaul (2/26) and Narine (1/13) providing reliable support.
Narine opened in the TKR's innings after a lengthy rain delay and was ejected with an LBW after scoring two boundaries.
Simmons and Munro, however, mounted the response, with both escaping early exits after poor fielding from the Tallawahs.
Munro scored 34 runs from as many balls, while Simmons added to his fielding heroics, scoring 70 runs, including five sixes and as many fours. They fell in the 13th and 14th overs, respectively, allowing Pollard and Bravo to finish off the contest.
SCOREBOARD
TALLAWAHS
+K Lewis c Munro b Hosein*0
K McKenzie c wkp Ramdin b Rampaul*4
Haider Ali c Simmons b Rampaul*2
*R Powell c Simmons b Narine*0
J Mohammed c Simmons b Hosein*5
Imad Wasim c DM Bravo b Udana*42
C Brathwaite run out*58
A Russell not out*20
C Green not out*0
Extras (b4, lb2, w7)*13
TOTAL (7 wkts, 20 overs)*144
Did not bat: M Pretorius, F Edwards
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-7, 3-7, 4-12, 5-15, 6-98, 7-138.
Bowling: Hosein 4-1-12-2, Rampaul 4-0-26-2 (w2), Narine 4-0-13-1 (w1), Pierre 4-0-26-0 (w1), Pollard 1-0-12-0 (w1), Isuru Udana 3-0-49-1.
TKR
S Narine lbw b Imad Wasim*9
L Simmons b Pretorius*70
C Munro c wkp Lewis b Imad Wasim*34
*K Pollard not out*7
D Bravo not out*14
Extras (lb1, w10)*11
TOTAL (3 wkts, 17.1 overs)*145
Did not bat: T Seifert, +D Ramdin, Isuru Udana, A Hosein, K Pierre, R Rampaul.
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-113, 3-120
Bowling: Edwards 3-0-40-0, Imad Wasim 4-0-19-2 (w1), Green 3.1-0-26-0 (w3), Pretorius 4-0-39-1 (w1), Russell 2-0-12-0, Brathwaite 1-0-8-0 (w1).
Result: TKR won by seven wickets.
Man-of-the-Match: Lendl Simmons.
Toss: TKR.
Umpires: Gregory Brathwaite, Zahid Bassarath; TV – Carl Tuckett.
 
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