By Prior Beharry
THE Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) are into the finals of the 2020 edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) after beating the Jamaica Tallawahs by nine wickets at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad on Tuesday.
Batting first the Tallawahs put on a paltry total of 107/7 in their 20 overs. TKR skipper Kieron Pollard won the toss and sent the Tallawahs in to bat.
Nkhrumah Bonner top scored with 41. He was bowled by Fawad Ahmed. Captain Rovman Powell made 33 and only Carlos Braithwaite with 13 was the only other batsman to get to double figures.
Player of the match Akeal Hosein was the pick of the bowlers for TKR getting three wickets for 29 runs in his four overs.
Sunil Narine and Ahmed got two wickets apiece.
At their turn at the crease, TKR lost Narine for four and his opening partner Lendl Simmons and Tion Webster carried on to finish the game with five overs to spare.
Webster ended on 44 not out and Simmons unbeaten 54 meant that he has equalled Chris Gayle’s 2,354 runs scored in the CPL. It may be as early as Thursday that Simmons becomes the most prolific scorer in the CPL.
The TKR will play the winner of the St Lucia Zouks and the Guyana Amazon Warriors game from 5.30 pm Tuesday – the second game of the double header .
The losing captain Powell said if he had won the toss he would have still batted.
Pollard said getting this far was the big picture and wanted to keep it “level.”
He said it was good to see Hosein showing the world what he can do. “I think he is a better batsman than a bowler.”
Pollard said he was confident that TKR would make it into their fourth final and follow their winning pattern.
TKR used 16 overs of spin in this game.
No team has ever won all matches in a single season of the CPL. TKR are just one win away from that accolade.
