Miller half-century carries Royals past Knight Riders on eventful night

PROVIDENCE, Guyana (CMC):

THE BARBADOS Royals were minutes away from elimination against the Trinbago Knight Riders, but somehow miraculously advanced to the second qualifier of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a thrilling nine-wicket win on Monday night.

Faulty floodlights at the Providence Stadium, which delayed play for over two hours, had looked set to send the Knight Riders through to the next round based on the fact that they finished in third position at the end of the preliminary rounds, ahead of the fourth-placed Royals.

But, with the match minutes away from being called off, the lights returned, setting the stage for David Miller’s brilliant, unbeaten half-century to win the match for the Royals.

Set a revised target of 60 in five overs after the Knight Riders’ innings ended on 168 for three from 19.1 overs, Player-of-the-Match Miller blasted 50 from just 17 balls to propel the Royals to 64 for one with four balls to spare.

It marked a thrilling end to a contest, although the Knight Riders will no doubt feel hard done by the result.

With fast runs needed, Royals’ captain Rovman Powell promoted himself to opener ,along with Quinton de Kock.

But, after pulling Sunil Narine for four off the second ball of the first over, Narine produced a beautiful delivery that deceived de Kock and rattled his stumps to leave the score five for one.

His departure brought Miller to the crease and he wasted little time in hitting the second ball he faced from Narine over midwicket for six.

Pacer Chris Jordan conceded just two runs from his first three deliveries, but Miller cut him over point for a boundary and Powell joined in by flicking him over deep midwicket for six to end the over.

Narine’s second over and third of the innings went for just nine, with Miller hitting him for a solitary six over long on, as Royals found themselves 35 for one after three overs.

Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard’s decision to stick with Jordan, however, proved to be a decisive error.

Miller sent his third delivery of the fourth over extra cover for four, the next ball was dispatched through midwicket for another boundary, and the fifth ball was launched over long on for six, as the Royals took 17 runs from the penultimate over.

Needing eight runs for victory from the final over bowled by pacer Terrance Hinds, Miller wasted little time in clobbering Hinds’ first ball over midwicket for six, before hitting him over extra cover for another maximum to end the match and bring up his 50.

In all, he struck five sixes and three fours, while Powell was unbeaten on nine.

Miller’s blockbuster innings erased the efforts of the Knight Riders’ Nicholas Pooran, who continued his devastating form in the CPL with an unbeaten 91 from 60 balls.

He formed two half-century partnerships with Jason Roy and Andre Russell and would have been eyeing a record second consecutive century had it not been for the Knight Riders’ innings being cut short by the dysfunctional lights.

Pooran added 52 with Roy, who made 25, and then shared an unbroken 67-run partnership with Russell, who scored an unbeaten 20 from 18 balls.

Despite losing only three wickets, the Knight Riders were unable to shift gears and would have been disappointed not to post a bigger total.