TRINBAGO Knight Riders made it two wins on the spin in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign with a nervy victory against the Jamaica Tallawahs at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad on Saturday evening.
It was a sold-out crowd with an official figure of 16,971.
The Tallawahs won the toss and surprisingly opted to bat first and that decision backfired almost immediately.
Losing four wickets in the PowerPlay the Tallawahs were in trouble at 25/4 and despite a 50-run partnership between Fabian Allen and Imad Wasim too much was left to do at the back end.
And 116/7 never looked like it was enough but the Tallawahs fought gamely to defend the total taking out six wickets in the process.
However, Andre Russell and Akeal Hosein saw the chase home to move TKR into the top four.
Earlier, on Ravi Rampaul impressed to uproot the Tallawahs batting, the seam bowler took 4/19 including three in the PowerPlay to put the Knight Riders in complete control.
The Tallawahs only had an energetic Fabian Allen half-century to thank to prevent a total collapse.
TKR made hard going of what should have been a simple chase. Openers Nicholas Pooran and Tion Webster both fell for ducks to leave the Knight Riders 0/2 in the first two overs. But Colin Munro and Tim Seifert rebuilt the innings with a 50-run partnership.
When the pair fell in quick succession the Tallawahs had a moment of hope but Russell and Hosein ensured there would be no dramatic defeat, guiding the Knight Riders home with five balls to spare.
Trinbago Knight Riders 119/6 (Munro 40, Seifert 28; Amir 2/15, Green 1/12) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 116/7 (Fabian 50, Brooks 20; Rampaul 4/19, Narine 1/21) by 4 wickets.
