‘This could be a historic moment here… oh, red card. You Don’t want to see that colour card’ – Ian Bishop
By Prior Beharry
THE first-ever red card in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is given to Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) captain Kieron Pollard at Warner Park in Basseterre on Sunday.
It meant that in the last over of their innings, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots were allowed to bat against ten men and with only two fielders outside the 30-yard circle.
TKR incurred the maximum of three penalties under the new rules for slow over-rate in the CPL for this season.
In the last over Patriots skipper Sherfane Rutherford, batting at No. 5, took 18 runs from it.
Pollard had asked Sunil Narine to leave the field after he had completed his four overs with three wickets for 24 runs.
When the Red Card was given commentator Ian Bishop said, “This could be a historic moment here… oh, red card. You Don’t want to see that colour card.”
The new rules in the CPL relate to the last three overs of an innings:
- If the fielding side does not start the 18 over on time, one additional fielder with enter the 30-yard circle with only four allowed outside:
- If the team misses the time limit at the start of the 19th over, one more player must enter the inner circle leaving three on the boundary: and
- If there was still an infringement at the start of the last over, one player must leave the field and only two players would be allowed outside of the 30-yard circle.
TKR incurred all three penalties.
Speaking after the match, Pollard described the penalties as ridiculous.
The skipper said, “To be honest, it will take away the hard work everyone has done.”
He added, “We are like the pawns and we are going to do what we are told. We are going to play as fast as we can. If you are penalised for 30-45 seconds in a tournament like this, it is absolutely ridiculous.”
The sanctions have been implemented, using the 85-minutes-per-innings rule for T20 cricket.
It means:
- The 17th over of the innings must be completed by 72 minutes and 15 seconds:
- The 18th by 76 minutes and 30 seconds; and
- The 19th by 80 minutes and 45 seconds.
In am earlier statement, CPL stated “Over rates will be monitored by the third umpire and communicated to the captains via on-field umpires at the end of every over, as well as to the crowd and TV audience, with graphics showing how far they are behind (or ahead of) the over rate. ”
It stated, “Dispensations will be given for injuries, DRS and time-wasting by batting side where appropriate.”
When the CPL had announced the new rules earlier this month, Tournament Operations Director Michael Hall said: “We have been disappointed that our T20 games have been getting longer and longer each year, and we want to do what we can to arrest this trend. It is the duty of those involved in cricket to ensure that the game keeps moving and we have sensitised both the franchises and our match officials to this duty ahead of the tournament. Our hope is that these in-game penalties are not needed, but we believe they are proportionate and necessary.”
TKR, thanks to Nicholas Pooran making 61 from 32 balls, 36 off 31 balls from Lorcan Tucker and an unbeaten 37 from Pollars, went on to win the game by six wickets. Dwayne Bravo took two wickets in the Power Play for only the second time in his career.
They made their most successful run chase for this and last seasons.
Earlier, Evin Lewis stepped down as captain of the Patriots giving the responsibility to Rutherford who made a blistering 68 not out from 38 balls that included four 4s and five 6s.
