All-rounders Andre Russell and Akeal Hosein produced three-wicket hauls as Trinbago Knight Riders grabbed much-needed points with a 26-run victory over Guyana Amazon Warriors to end their three-game losing streak and reignited their Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign at the Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain on Wednesday night.
Stumbling through the tournament with just a single win in five outings previously, TKR put their poor form behind them to successfully defend 150 and move up to fourth in the standings on five points.
Russell overcame his Twenty20 World Cup snub to snatch three for 16 with his sharp medium pace while left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein picked up three for 36 as Amazon Warriors were bundled out for 124 in the 18th over, to slump to the bottom of the standings.
Only Chandrapaul Hemraj with 28 and captain Shimrom Hetmyer (20) got into the 20s as Amazon Warriors’ struggles continued.
The Amazon Warriors won the toss and opted to field first and they produced a disciplined performance with the ball that kept the Knight Riders in check throughout. Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard and Ravi Rampaul hit a combined five sixes together with Colin Munro hitting a controlled unbeaten 42 from 37 balls, and Tim Seifert (27) and Narine (26) chipping in with valuable knocks for the TKR who set a total of 150 runs that always appeared as if it would be tricky to chase.
Led by Tabraiz Shamsi’s 4/36, wickets were taken at regular intervals to ensure that no batter ever felt comfortable at the crease as the Knight Riders reached 150/8.
The TKR lost Tion Webster to the first ball of the contest from fast bowler Romario Shepherd (3-24) but Munro, who counted five fours, put on 31 with Nicholas Pooran (15) for the second wicket and a further 51 for the third with Seifert.
Once Munro and Seifert perished in a slide triggered by the South African left-arm spinner (4-36) that saw three wickets tumble for 24 runs, the innings never really recovered.
Needing 151 to win the Amazon Warriors got off to the worst possible start losing Paul Sterling for a duck and three wickets in total in the power play.
The Amazon Warriors were then ignited by Hemraj, who struck five fours, and put on 34 for the second wicket with Colin Ingram (13) to patch things up.
Hetmyer and Ingram briefly threatened to take the game away from the Knight Riders but when Russell removed Hetmyer the collapse began.
Ingram added a further 28 with Hetmyer for the fourth wicket but Russell, Hosein and off-spinner Narine (2-9) joined forces to wreck the innings as Amazon Warriors lost their last seven wickets for 43 runs.
BRIEF SCORES
Trinbago Knight Riders 150/8 (Munro 42, Seifert 27; Shamsi 4/36, Shepherd 3/22) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 124 all out (Hemraj 28, Hetmyer 20; Russell 3/16, Hosein 3/36) by 26 runs.
(CMC)