As they settled on a chartered flight on Sunday morning at the George F Charles Airport in St Lucia, the mood was sombre as the members of the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) were very concerned about the situation involving the Tropical Storm Karen hitting Trinidad and Tobago.
Team manager Colin Borde said the players were thinking about their families and citizens at large and praying for everyone’s safety.
“This (yesterday) morning we are not thinking cricket but the safety of our people back home. Of course, most of us have our families there and we are not going home at the moment. Even if we wanted it would have been hard because of the fact that the airport at Piarco is closed,” Borde told the T&T Guardian.
“We fly into Barbados now and we will monitor the situation at home. We want T&T to know that TKR is thinking about them and that we love them. We are hoping all this passes quickly and we can bring the smiles back to their faces through cricket.”
The TKR themselves were affected by the elements as they had to share the spoils with the St Lucia Zouks after their sixth-round Caribbean Premier League clash was rained out after an hour and five minutes at the Daren Sammy Stadium in Gros Islet on Saturday night.
TKR won the toss and sent the home team in to bat. The Zouks reached 99-4 when the heavens opened up after 12.2 overs to bring an end contest.
At that point, Zouks batsman Colin Ingram was unbeaten on 52 off 34 balls with five fours and two sixes.
Earlier, TKR won the toss and with the weather around they asked the Zouks to bat first.
Muhammad Ali Khan struck with his first ball, in the second over, sending back the dangerous Andre Fletcher for nine. He received a bullet-like delivery that rushed on to him and it went skywards, allowing Khary Pierre to complete the catch.
Jimmy Neesham then struck by sending back John Campbell for six. Ingram was then joined by Colin de Grandhomme and they added 51 runs for the third wicket. TKR skipper Kieron Pollard then came on and took pace off the ball to make it difficult to time. This led to the wicket of de Grandhomme, as he drove uppishly to Neesham at mid-off.
Left-arm spinner Pierre, who was bowling very well, was rewarded with the big wicket of Rakheem Cornwall for eight and as he walked off the rain followed him.
TKR, with nine points from six matches, remained second to the Guyana Amazon Warriors (10 points) following the tie. The St Kitts Nevis Patriots are third on the six-team table with eight points, the Barbados Tridents (4 pts) fourth, Zouks (3 pts) fifth and the Jamaica Tallawahs (2 pts) are dead last.
TKR’s next assignment is on Thursday against the Barbados Tridents at the Kensington Oval.