BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Trinbago Knight Riders 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 inspired the Royals’ demise with 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.”
He added: “It’s a team where our senior players must stand up and score runs.
“Whoever those senior guys are, we have to stand up and score runs because when you have a lot of youngsters, the youngsters will contribute, but the senior guys are the ones that have to stand up and score the 70 and the 80.”
With the defeat, Royals slipped to one from the bottom of the six-team 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 how they fought back in the last couple of 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 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, who emerged from a slow start to lash four and four sixes in a 32-ball 46.
With 25 runs in his previous three innings in the tournament, Guptill also exuded caution initially, reaching his fifty from 40 balls before upping his scoring to reach three figures off only another 18 deliveries.
Russell quickly crippled the Royals run chase, removing Rahkeem Cornwall with the first ball of the innings, taken at slip by Dwayne Bravo, and then claiming Kyle Mayers lbw via DRS – both batsmen departing without scoring.
When Alick Athanaze holed out to mid-on in Russell’s next over for two, the Royals desperately needed a partnership, but none was forthcoming.
Veteran off-spinner Sunil Narine hit Laurie Evans (5) in front in the fifth over; Salamkheil got Powell to recklessly drill to Deyal at long-off at the start of the seventh before left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein had Holder brilliantly caught at slip by Bravo on the second attempt in the eighth over.
At 34 for six at this stage, there was no returning for the Royals as the last four wickets went down for 27 runs.
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