A super over loss to the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots broke the team's perfect record this season and the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) will be looking to get back to its winning ways when the team faces the St. Lucia Zouks on Saturday night in the Hero Caribbean Premier League match-up.
Kieron Pollard's team won four games on the trot before losing to the Patriots on Tuesday night in an exciting Super Over decider.
With five matches to go in the preliminary round of the campaign, TKR will be looking to get at least three wins from those matches to finish either as leaders or second place in the group. This will get them two chances at reaching the finals of the tournament, which is carded for October 12 at the Brian Lara Academy in Tarouba, South Trinidad.
Yesterday, the team held its final preparations at the Darren Sammy International Cricket ground, the venue for the game tonight's contest. The pitch is full of runs, so it is expected to be a run-feat as the ball would come on nicely unto the bat. Pollard, who now leads the TKR is going back to play against the team he captained last year.
TKR is expected to rest Sunil Narine as he is nursing ligament injuries to the middle finger of his right hand. It means that Mark Deyal who smoked 21 off just 10 balls in the last game is expected to get another chance at the top of the order.
Pollard took the defeat against Patriots in stride and is looking forward to tonight's encounter. "We did not have a bad game although we lost in the Super Over. It's all about sticking to what works for us and bringing home the big moments. Momentum is key and we are looking forward to getting back to winning ways and keeping that as we head to the back end of the tournament."
Manager Colin Borde is also happy with the team thus far: "The team is playing good cricket at the moment. There are areas we will like to improve in and the players have been working towards that every day. This unit is confident without being cocky and it has worked for us in the past and will work for us again this year."
In their first-round encounter at the Queen's Park Oval, the TKR hammered the Zouks in a no-contest by seven wickets. The Zouks were due to play against the Tridents last night, looking to get their second win in the tournament.
In 12 previous encounters at the CPL, TKR has won 10, with St. Lucia winning one and one ending in a no result. Also of interest is that in the 11 completed games, the team batting second won 10 times.
Checks with the meteorological offices here in Gros Islet indicates that there are chances of patchy showers but not enough to seriously affect the game.
TEAMS
TRINBAGO KNIGHT RIDERS
Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Colin Munro, Denesh Ramdin, Darren Bravo, Khary Pierre, Jimmy Neesham, Seekkuge Prasanna, Amir Jangoo, Anderson Phillip, Mark Deyal, Tion Webster, Javon Searles, Akeal Hosein, Ali Khan.
ST LUCIA ZOUKS
Fawad Ahmed, Darren Sammy, Andre Fletcher, Kesrick Williams, John Campbell, Obed McCoy, Rahkeem Cornwall, Roland Cato, Jeavor Royal, Andre McCarthy, Christopher Barnwell, Keddy Lesporis, Nitish Kumar, Krishmar Santokie, Colin de Grandhomme, Najibullah Zadran, Cameron Delport, Kavem Hodge.
HEAD TO HEAD
2013 - TKR won by 6 wkts
2014 - TKR won by 9 wkts
2014 - TKR won by 8 wkts
2015 - No Result
2015 - St. Lucia won by 4 wkts
2016 - St. Lucia by 6 wkts
2016 - TKR won by 3 wkts
2017 - TKR won by 9 wkts
2017 - TKR won by 4 wkts
2018 - TKR won by 100 runs
2018 - TKR won by 5 wkts
2019 - TKR won by 7 wkts