Knight Riders snatch victory from jaws of defeat

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

THE TRINBAGO Knight Riders ended the Barbados Royals’ unbeaten streak in the Caribbean Premier League with a thrilling two-wicket victory at Kensington Oval on Friday.

After Rovman Powell’s late assault propelled the Royals to 156 for seven from their seven overs, Terrance Hinds took advantage of pacer Jason Holder’s costly error to smash a six off the penultimate ball as the Knight Riders posted 159 for eight off 19.5 overs.

In a topsy-turvy contest, the Royals produced a sub-par batting performance after being sent into bat, with three of their batsmen failing to score.

Rahkeem Cornwall continued his slump with a first-ball duck when he was caught behind off spinner Akeal Hosein and Alick Athanaze faced just two balls before he was trapped plumb in front to leave the Royals 2-1 in the first over.

Quinton de Kock and Rivaldo Clarke came together and put on 53 in six overs to bring some stability to the innings before de Kock became the first of Waqar Salamkheil’s three wickets when he was bowled for 39 from 21 balls.

Player-of-the-Match Akeal Hosein produced a late cameo to guide the Trinbago Knight Riders to victory.

Jason Holder lasted four balls for his duck and when Clarke holed out to long on for 18 off the bowling of Salamkheil, the Royals were in trouble at 71 for five in the 11th over.

David Miller contributed 19 and Keshav Maharaj made a laboured 14 from 16 balls, as the Royals crawled to 128 for seven after 18 overs.

But Powell finished the innings with a flurry, blasting 28 runs from the last two overs to not only bring up his 50 but help the Royals post a competitive total.

Powell finished unbeaten on 59 from 38 balls with five sixes and two fours.

Salamkheil claimed 3-13 from his four overs, while Hosein and Sunil Narine both took two wickets.

The Knight Riders got off to the worst possible start in their chase when Narine lofted the very first ball of the innings from spinner Maheesh Theekshana straight into the hands of Powell at mid-off.

Jason Roy didn’t last long at the crease either, scoring just nine before Theekshana trapped him lbw to make it 11-2.

Shaqkere Parris (35), Nicholas Pooran (35), and Keacy Carty (32), then wrestled the initiative away from the Royals with solid partnerships, to put the Knight Riders in the driver’s seat at 106 for three in the 14th over.

But once Theekshana accounted for Parris, the Knight Riders lost four wickets for 30 runs – including the crucial wicket of captain Kieron Pollard for just three – to slump to 136 for seven in the 19th over.

However, Hosein rescued his side by hitting four crucial boundaries in scoring 20 off 10 balls, to bring them back into the contest.

With 11 runs needed off the final over bowled by Holder, the Royals seized the momentum when the fast bowler had Hosein caught at deep midwicket off the fourth ball, with the Knight Riders still needing six runs.

Holder then turned villain with his very next delivery, a waist-high no-ball that new batsman Jayden Seales was able to scamper for a single to put Hinds on strike.

Hinds then clobbered the resulting free hit back over the bowler’s head for a massive six to spark wild celebrations among the Knight Riders and silence the large crowd on hand.

Theekshana was the pick of the Royals’ bowlers with 3-26, while Obed McCoy took 2-30.