New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham bowled the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) to a brilliant 11-run win over the St Kitts Nevis Patriots to get the defending champions off to a fine start in this year's Hero Caribbean Premier League at the Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain on Wednesday night.
With the Patriots needing 13 runs to win in the last over, Neesham bowled Usama Mir (24) with his second ball and last man Sheldon Cottrell for a duck with his fourth, conceding just one run and finishing with three wickets for 18 runs, to snatch victory for debutant skipper Kieron Pollard's men.
Patriots' Fabian Pierre had turned the match in the 16th over by hitting debutant TKR leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna for four sixes, all of them deposited over the leg-side boundary, as the Patriots got 27 runs and moved to 111 for five to set up a target of 42 runs from the last four overs to get to their 153-run winning target.
But Allen went for one lofted drive too many in the very next over when he hit Pakistani pacer Mohammad Hasnain to deep third man and was brilliantly caught for a 14-ball 30 by a sliding Prassana, who then flashed the signature celebration made famous by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt to the delight of the fans. More importantly, Prasanna was happy to make amends for the previous over he bowled by having a hand in dismissing Pierre to leave the Patriots at 119 for six.
Hasnain then got two vital wickets in the penultimate over to set up Neesham's last over blitz. First, Mohammad Hafeez walked across his wicket to try a scoop shot and only managed to tickle a ball lined on off stump to wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin. Rayad Emrit then skied a catch to Neesham at long-on to leave Patriots at 140-8.
But with TKR owner and Indian Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan and the TKR fans on the edge of their seats, it was still down to Neehsam holding his nerves in the final over with Mir in spoiler mode. However, Neesham accepted the challenge with his four-ball final over spurt to restrict the Patriots to 141 all out, which later earned him the man-of-the-match award.
Earlier, skipper Pollard, in his first home match at the TKR helm in place of the injured Dwayne Bravo, hit a quickfire 47 to lead TKR to 152-7 after pacer Cottrell had ripped out the TKR top order inside the first five overs.
Cottrell struck in the very first over of the match, uprooting Sunil Narine's middle stump for a duck with just two runs on the board and celebrating with his trademark soldier's salute. Newcomer Tion Webster joined Lendl Simmons but the pair had hardly been together when Cottrell struck again in his second over, bowling Webster off an inside edge to leave TKR struggling at 11 for two.
Cottrell's opening partner Alzarri Joseph joined the party in the next over, bowling Simmons off an under-edge with only 20 runs to TKR's tally. At this stage, the home fans were fearing the worst.
But Neesham then joined Ramdin and the pair did some repair work with a 60-run partnership. With the score on 80 in the 12th over, Neesham, trying to up the run rate, chanced his hand off medium-pacer Emrit twice. Off the second ball, he skied a miscued lofted cover drive off Emrit behind the wicket but Cottrell dropped it at deep third man. Two balls later Neesham, on 33, tried a similar shot, again mistimed it and could only look on as Patriots skipper Carlos Braithwaite ran in at long-off and scooped up the ball just before it touched the turf.
This brought Pollard to the crease and he and Ramdin shared in a rapid 54-run fifth-wicket partnership to see TKR to 134 before Cottrell returned in his second spell to remove Ramdin, caught by Allen for a well-played run-a-ball 33 - an innings which was more important because he held the team's innings together.
Pollard's fine knock came to an end when he skied a short delivery from Emrit to Ottley on the deep cover boundary in the final over. His innings came off just 32 balls and included four fours and three sixes.
After openers Evin Lewis and Kjorn Ottley got Patriots to a smooth start, Neehsam finally broke the partnership when he got the latter to sky an attempted pull shot and he took the catch himself, leaving the Patriots at 42 for one.
Left-arm spinner Khary Pierre then got the breakthrough TKR really needed in the 11th over when Lewis went for an expansive on-drive and succeeded only in finding Neesham at long-off. His 36 came off 27 balls and included two fours and three sixes.
Debutant leg-break bowler Seekkuge Prasanna then pulled the home side right back when he got homeboy Jason Mohammed for a duck, caught on the long-on boundary by Pierre as the Patriots slipped to 72 for three.
Pierre then tricked Devon Thomas into coming down the pitch and skying one to Narine at short third man as the Patriots' tumbled to 74 for four.
Skipper Carlos Braithwaite came in but he was run out in the next over by Prasanna after a mix-up with Mohammad Hafeez, who initially responded to his captain's call for a run then changed his mind as Simmons combined with Prassana to remove the Patriots skipper, as the visitors lost four wickets for just six runs to stutter to 76 for five.
After that, Patriots simply lost their composure chasing the runs under scoreboard pressure and although Pierre and Mir provided some late hitting heroics, they could not get them over the line.
SUMMARISED SCORES:
TKR 152-7 (Kieron Pollard 47, Denesh Ramdin 33, Jimmy Neesham 33, Sheldon Cottrell 3/13, Rayad Emrit 3/39) v SKN PATRIOTS 141 all out (Evin Lewis 36, Fabian Allen 30, Usama Mir 24, Jimmy Neesham 3/18, Mohammad Hasnain 3/36, Khary Pierre 2/20)
Result: TKR WON BY 11 RUNS