The Trinidad leg of the 2022 CPL ends with a one-run loss for the hosts.
A 20-run last over assault by Andre Russell and Sunil Narine wasn’t enough as St Lucia Kings managed to secure a 1-run win against Trinbago Knight Riders, their third win on the trot and the fourth of their season, at the Brian Lara Stadium on Sunday. Pollard says team working hard to turn around poor form.
“We would have looked for one of those close fours to be a six. But we didn’t lose by one run, I’ve seen enough cricket to know that. We were very indisciplined in the field, and that ended us costing the team. We bowled well to restrict them to 147, our spinners did well in the middle overs to pull things back or we were looking at a 160-plus total. But we are disappointed with this result, we’ve had an up-and-down season, need to make amends in Guyana. Thanks to the crowd for supporting us.” Pollard said following the match.
Chasing 148 for a win, Trinbago were dented early by Roston Chase’s triple strike.
The offspinner scalped the wickets of Leonardo Julien, Colin Munro and Nicholas Pooran to leave the hosts reeling at 16/3 in 3.3 overs.
Tim Siefert, who scored a run-a-ball 44, and Kieron Pollard steadied the innings with a 54-run stand in 41 balls.
However, a few tight overs following their partnership and Alzarri Joseph’s double strike shifted the momentum yet again in favour of the visitors.
Akeal Hosein’s promotion didn’t work too well as he struggled to a 21-ball 13, which included playing out a maiden over by Alzarri.
Narine joined forces with Russell, with Trinbago needing 45 runs off 22 balls. They put on a measured attack in the death overs.
However, a tight penultimate over, bowled by Alzarri, in which he conceded only 8 runs, put the pressure strongly on the hosts.
Roshon Primus, bowling the last over, stuck to a line wide outside off to Narine. Even though he conceded a couple of wides, he conceded only four runs off three legitimate deliveries before the strike was turned back to Russell. A 4, 6, 6 finish wasn’t enough in the end.
The Knight Riders’ mood would not have been helped by a poor start to CPL managing just one win in their prior 5 matches. Pollard is, however, hopeful that the team’s latest win will provide a bit of momentum.
“The guys wanted it badly and it was a total team effort. Things haven’t gone the way that we would have liked but one thing I can say is the guys come in day in, day out, and out in the practice and believe in the process and finally we got the win at home,” Pollard said following the match.
“Hopefully we can go back and look at where we can still do better for the next few matches.”
Earlier in the day, Johnson Charles’s 46-ball 54 and a breezy 14-ball 33 by David Wiese laid the foundation for Kings’ 147 for 6.
Through the middle overs, Niroshan Dickwella, Adam Hose and Chase made steady but slow contributions, restricted largely by the spin duo of Hosein and Khary Pierre, as much as by the hard length pace of Ravi Rampaul.
Their fourth loss of the season has left Trinbago down in the fourth spot on the points table.
Brief Scores: St Lucia Kings 147/6 in 20 overs (Johnson Charles 54, David Wiese 33; Ravi Rampaul 2-10, Sunil Narine 2-31) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 146/6 in 20 overs (Tim Seifert 44, Kieron Pollard 34, Roston Chase 3-17, Alzarri Joseph 2-26) by 1 run