TKR humble dismal Royals
Published:Friday | September 1, 2023 | 12:06 AM
BRIDGETOWN (CMC):
Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) humbled Barbados Royals for the fourth-lowest-score ever in Caribbean Premier League history, as they marched to a commanding 133-run win in the first game of the Barbados leg here Wednesday night.
Chasing 195 at Kensington Oval after New Zealander Martin Guptill had lit up the venue with a pulsating unbeaten 100 off 58 balls, Royals produced an insipid run chase to collapse to an embarrassing 61 all out in the 13th over.
Afghan left-arm spinner Waqar Salamkheil led the destruction with four for 14 while fast-bowler Andre Russell had a spell of three for 13 with the new ball.
Only two of the Royals’ specialist batsmen – Jason Holder (14) and captain Rovman Powell (10) – reached double figures, the hosts rocked by the loss of two wickets in the very first over and then failing to recover from a position of five for three.
“I think it (performance) wasn’t up to par,” said Powell.
“So far we have played three games and in all three games we had to chase 190-plus. That tells you the bowlers probably aren’t hitting their straps and probably we need to go to better bowling plans.”
With the defeat, Royals slipped to one from bottom of the six-teams standings, now one of two teams along with bottom-placed St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, with a negative net run rate.
The victory for TKR, meanwhile, was their second on the trot, pushing them up to third on five points.
“I must commend the way they fought back in the last couple games [following the opening defeat],” said TKR captain Kieron Pollard.
“Especially today the way Martin batted. He was looking for some runs, he was struggling a bit. I think as a team we are very, very happy that he was able to score a hundred in this innings.”
Sent in, TKR marched to 194 for five off their 20 overs. Guptill gave them the ideal start, belting a four and nine sixes as he put on 41 for the first wicket with Mark Deyal (27), 28 for the second wicket with Nicholas Pooran (6) and 108 for the third wicket with Pollard (46).