Trinbago Knight Riders 155/3 (Pooran 54, Guptill 53*; Wasim 2/28, Green 1/29) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 154/8 (Wasim 62, Blackwood 29; Khan 3/27, Narine 2/29) by 7 wickets
Click here to see photo album of game TKR vs Tallawahs
By Prior Beharry
MARTIN Guptill’s unbeaten 53 batting through the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) innings steadied the ship against the Jamaica Tallawahs at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) in Tarouba on Saturday.
TKR won by seven wickets with 16 balls remaining in the 155-run chase.
Surprisingly, Sunil Narine who took two wickets for 29 runs and opened the innings with Guptill was named Player of the Match. He scored 15 runs that included two 4s and one 6 from six balls.
The Kiwi batted with confidence, making a conscious effort to keep the ball on the ground when he could.
He shared in important partnerships with Nicholas Pooran and Andre Russell to take TKR home before a sold-out sea of red shirts in the partisan BLCA crowd.
As Chutney, Soca and Reggae music blasted across the ground from the deejay, the Kiwi shared in an 80-run partnership with Pooran who made 54 from 35 balls on the back of his unbeaten century in the last game.
This partnership was the backbone of the TKR’s innings.
TKR skipper Kieron Pollard who got louder applause, just by a decibel, than Pooran on coming in to bat, made only six.
He was out caught on the midwicket boundary by Fabien Allen in a one-handed catch, low down, running in at great velocity and then tumbling over a few times before standing up with hands folded. It was a magnificent effort that had the partisan crowd stunned. A catch for all time.
Imad Wasim was the pick of the Tallawah bowlers with two wickets (Pollard and Pooran) in three overs for 28 runs.
He was also exemplary with the bat top scoring with 62 at Tallawahs turn at the crease. Jermaine Blackwood put on 29 before he was caught by Russell from the bowling of Ali Khan.
TKR had won the toss and elected to field first.
The win means that TKR go on top of the table with 11 points, two more than the Guyana Amazon Warriors who have three games in hand.
St Lucia Kings (8 points) are third with Barbados Royals (7 points) fourth followed by the Tallawahs (5 points) and the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots (4 points) last.
Click here to see photo album of game TKR vs Tallawahs
