FOUR-TIME Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) champions Trinbago Knight Riders saw their title hopes dimmed in the 2024 season on October 1 when they suffered a nine-wicket loss to Barbados Royals via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) Method in a contentious eliminator match at the Providence Stadium, Guyana.
Batting first, TKR got to 168 for three after 19.1 overs, but their innings was halted by a lighting outage at the venue, which saw as many as three of the lighting towers at the venue losing power.
Guyana's Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson, explained the stadium lights lost power due to a "damaged underground cable," and he thanked the workers involved for rescuing the situation to allow the continuation of the game.
With TKR star batsman Nicholas Pooran on 91 not out at the time and nearing a second consecutive CPL ton, the players were asked to leave the field at approximately 9 pm. There were lengthy deliberations involving captains Kieron Pollard and Rovman Powell, with CPL CEO Pete Russell and operations director Michael Hall spearheading the critical on-field discourse.
For two hours, the fate of the eliminator tie was up in the air, and TKR appeared to be headed for the second qualifier (October 4) by virtue of their third-placed finish on the CPL table.
With a cut-off time for the resumption of the game set at 10.52 pm, the Royals got a lifeline when power was restored to the lights just before the appointed cut-off period.
[caption id="attachment_1112212" align="alignnone" width="683"] Barbados Royals' David Miller bats during the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League eliminator match against Trinbago Knight Riders at Providence Stadium on October 1, 2024 in Georgetown, Guyana. - (CPL T20)[/caption]
With five overs constituting a match in the T20 format, Barbados were set a revised target of 60 runs.
On the back of a ruthless unbeaten innings of 50 from 17 balls by David Miller, the Royals clinched the eliminator with four balls to spare as the South African left-hander drilled Terrance Hinds for a pair of sixes.
A bitterly tough pill for TKR to swallow, captain Kieron Pollard took the loss in stride. At the post-match ceremony, he said, "once the lights were on...we were always ready and willing to play within the rules and regulations of the game."
On the opposite side, Powell and the Royals were counting their lucky stars after being on the brink of elimination.
"At one point, we thought we were out of the competition when the lights started giving problems," the Royals captain said.
"But we knew once the lights came back at a certain time, it was our game to lose. Five overs, 60 runs. Not very difficult."
TKR's innings had been set up beautifully by Pooran, whose 60-ball knock was filled with six fours, five sixes and a clear intention to bat the duration of his team's innings. In the process, Pooran went past the 500-run mark to go atop the batting charts for 2024.
Via his Facebook account, Ramson explained what led to the untimely d
