TRINBAGO Knight Riders (TKR) ended their Hero Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament ten-match unbeaten streak at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, on Sunday night as they fell to a nail-biting one-run defeat against St Lucia Kings.
Sent in to bat, St Lucia rallied to 147/6 after 20 overs and did well to restrict the hosts to 146/6.
Although TKR put on a fight, their batsmen fell agonisingly short of victory courtesy of a clinical bowling display by the Kings bowlers, particularly off-spinner Roston Chase (3/17) and pacer Alzarri Joseph (2/26).
The result saw TKR (seven points) slip from third to fourth position on the standings as they head into the final leg of competition in Guyana, which gets underway on Wednesday.
St Lucia (eight) climbed into second with Barbados Royals (14 points) atop the standings and Jamaica Tallawahs (eight) in third.
TKR leg-spinner Akeal Hosein opened the bowling confidently and gave up just one run off St. Lucia’s opening combination of Johnson Charles and Faf du Plessis.
The Kings’ pair did not click this time around as they scored eight runs before Daryn Dupavillon had the latter out caught by Leonardo Julien in the last ball of the second over.
Hosein bowled a well-worked maiden in the third but 17 runs came from Dupavillon’s second as Sri Lankan Niroshan Dickwella pulled behind square for six and then edged for four. Charles also smashed the South African for another maximum down the ground.
Sunil Narine had a rude introduction to the attack as Charles drove through leg side for four off his first delivery, followed by a six through leg side. He was not done as he completed Narine’s first over driving for six once more.
After the powerplay, Kings were 51/1.
TKR skipper Kieron Pollard rotated his bowling attack and reaped the rewards as in-form pacer Ravi Rampaul sent Dickwella (21) packing, out caught by Khary Pierre.
After ten overs, the St Lucia franchise was 69/2.
Rampaul returned and Charles brought up his half-century by getting on the front foot and punching a drive to the boundary. Four balls later, he broke the 67-run partnership as Charles edged on to his wicket to send Kings to 68/2.
Rampaul seemed to injure his left hamstring in that over and played no further part in the bowling attack.
Narine’s return in the 16th over saw Roston Chase (11) trapped leg-before, after five minutes of the umpires reviewing footage, although there was a small spike on the ball-tracking technology (104/4).
[caption id="attachment_975724" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Trinbago Knight Riders' Khary Pierre takes a catch during the the Caribbean Premier League T20 match against the St Lucia Kings, on Sunday, at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba. - Lincoln Holder[/caption]
In the same over, new batsman David Wiese was given not out for leg-before but Pollard’s review was not permitted since he may have taken too long to make the call.
Into the 18th, Narine had another controversial wicket as the on-field umpire declared Adam Hose not out. But a tim
