A high-scoring run-fest at Warner Park saw Trinbago Knight Riders defeat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots by 44 runs in the third match of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Patriots captain Andre Fletcher won the toss and inserted the Knight Riders on what turned out to be a good batting wicket. Sunil Narine hit three fours and four sixes to get the Knight Riders off to a rapid start and they never looked back.
The boundary was peppered and cleared all evening, Nicholas Pooran scooping the Player of the Match award for a thrilling innings of 97 off 43 balls that fully deserved a century. Keacy Carty piled on the pain for the Patriots by striking 73 off just 35 balls in a visceral display of stroke-making, the pair of batters leaving the opposition bewildered in the face of boundaries struck all around the relatively short-sided ground in Basseterre.
Fittingly, Carty hit the final ball of the innings for six to see the Knight Riders post a mammoth score of 250/4. The Patriots cleared the two hundred run mark themselves in posting 206/8 in what turned out to be the highest-scoring match in CPL history between the sides but in truth, Andre Fletcher’s side never truly looked like they were going to haul in the target.
Just a few hours before the game began 41-year-old Dwayne Bravo announced that this year’s CPL would be his last, the tournament’s all-time leading wicket-taker and five-time champion writing on Instagram that, “It’s been a great journey. This season will be my last one and I’m looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people… TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team.”
Bravo went wicketless in his three overs but along with Narine was one of only two Knight Riders bowlers to go at an economy rate of less than ten runs per over. Narine picked up 2/24 off his four overs and only went for three boundaries.
Earlier, Pooran looked like he’d reached three figures in style. Anrich Nortje sending down a full and wide delivery in the 18th over that the batter climbed into with relish. It wasn’t to be, the sliced shot fell into the hands of Drakes on the boundary at deep point and the batter could not hide his disappointment.
Nevertheless, Pooran could comfort himself in the knowledge that his innings contributed to a resounding win for his side, saying afterwards that, “At the end of the day, I want to win matches and tournaments. I want to win the CPL and if I want to do that, I need to keep doing my job.”
It was a case of job done for the Knight Riders as they chalked up their first win of the 2024 campaign.
