The best two teams in this season’s competition have now met four times in the last 11 days and won two games apiece, but this was the one that really mattered and it went decisively the Knight Riders�way.

Fittingly, it was Colin Munro who hit the winning runs having become the first batsman both to pass 500 runs and then to score six half-centuries in a single Hero CPL season. His brutal 68* from 39 balls eased his team past a target of 148 after fellow New Zealander Brendon McCullum had got the run-chase off to a flying start with 39 off 24.

Munro brought up his latest 50 from just 33 balls with successive sixes off Rayad Emrit, adding a third Hero Maximum in a 27-run 17th over that effectively ended the contest.

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That onslaught left just four runs needed from the last 18 balls, and after collecting two runs from the first ball of the 18th over Munro then slashed the third to the boundary to spark wild celebrations from his team-mates and in the stands.

It was the bowlers, though, who had done most of the heavy lifting to secure back-to-back titles for the Knight Riders, with the Warriors �who have now lost four CPL finals �left to rue a dramatic batting collapse in the second half of their innings.

All the Knight Riders bowlers played their part in restricting the Warriors to 147/9. Dwayne Bravo was able to use just his five main bowlers, including himself, with all five getting something in the wickets column and none going for more than eight an over.

Ali Khan made the perfect start, ripping out Cameron Delport’s off stump with the very first ball of the night. He finished with 1/20 from four exemplary overs to end a fine Hero CPL campaign with 16 wickets to his name.

One man who had an even better season, though, is Fawad Ahmed, who grabbed his 22nd and perhaps most significant wicket when he removed Shimron Hetmyer. After hitting a googly straight back over the bowler’s head for six, Hetmyer was suckered by a similar but slightly slower delivery. He reached for it, and this time could only edge it to slip where Dwayne Bravo was waiting and claimed huge reward for holding his nerve and maintaining an attacking field.

Luke Ronchi was holding the innings together but his departure for a well-made 44 from 35, chipping Khary Pierre to deep cover, triggered a collapse from 79/2 to 109/8. Pierre himself snagged two more wickets, including an outrageous caught and bowled to see off Sherfane Rutherford. The ball was drilled back at the bowler, who jerked his head out of the way and stuck up his hands. Remarkably, the ball stuck in his right hand and a disbelieving Rutherford had to drag himself from the field.

Dwayne Bravo’s aggressive field setting struck again when Chadwick Walton edged Pierre to slip, while the captain landed two significant blows of his own with both Jason Mohammed and Chris Green top-edging surprise bouncers to be caught.

Sunil Narine, bowling through the pain of a shoulder injury, had Sohail Tanvir caught at short third-man attempting a slog-sweep.

At 109/8 the Warriors were sinking without a trace, but Shepherd, Emrit and Imran Tahir scrambled 39 from the last four overs to give themselves something to bowl at.

It never really looked like being enough, though, with the Warriors only managing to dismiss McCullum, caught at cover off Green, and then Ramdin for 24 when he clattered his own stumps having gone too deep in his crease against Shepherd.

Darren Bravo was forced to retire hurt after seeming to injure a hamstring completing a single, but that was the only real negative on another glorious night for the Knight Riders.

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Glenn Phillips smashed a ton to help Tallawahs post 191 for 5 before Anton Devcich’s half-century and some nerveless batting from Ben Cutting saw the Patriots go past the target off the penultimate ball.

Patriots were well placed in the chase with Chris Gayle and Rassie van der Dussen batting in the tenth over and with 62 on the board. Though the asking rate had climbed up, the platform was set for a late assault. However, Ish Sodhi landed a double blow to leave them wobbling at 62 for 3.

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Fabian Allen and Brandon King just about kept the team afloat with a 56-run stand but Sodhi returned to break the stand and helped Tallawahs nose ahead. Devcich fell with the team still 34 away from the target but in a fairly comfortable position with 20 balls left.

Oshan Thomas dismissed the dangerous Evin Lewis while Rovman Powell got ride of Carlos Brathwaite to take the game close. Patriots needed 15 in the last over but Powell failed to hold his nerve. After he dismissed Brathwaite, he bowled four wides to leave the equation down to 5 off 2.

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Cutting then launched him over midwicket to seal a win and knock Tallawahs out of the tournament.

At the half-way mark, Tallawahs were in a much better position but will probably rue the lack of contributions from the middle order. Apart from Phillips scoring a 63-ball 103, all thebatsmen struggled. Phillips fell on the last ball of the innings but had done his bit to ensure the bowlers had more than enough to work with before Cutting and Devcich ruined it for Tallawahs.

Brief scores: Jamaica Tallawahs 191/5 in 20 overs (Glenn Phillips 103; Ben Cutting 2-45) lost to St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 193/8 in 19.5 overs (Anton Devcich 50; Oshane Thomas 3-43) by two wickets.

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Rayad Emrit and Chris Green kept Knight Riders to just 122 for 7 before Shimron Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford played a crucial role in the team getting over the line.

In their chase, Warriors got off to a slow start with Cameron Delport and Luke Ronchi struggling to come to terms with the conditions. They were 23 for 2 after the end of the powerplay and with openers dismissed. Hetmyer walked in with the team in trouble and needed support to keep the chase going.

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However, Jason Mohammed, Chadwick Walton and Chris Green failed to bat around him as Warriors slipped to 52 for 5. Hetmyer and Rutherford then collaborated to add 50 for the sixth wicket to take the team within touching distance. Both batsmen, however, were dismissed in consecutive balls in the 17th over as Warriors slipped to 102 for 7 with 21 needed off the last three overs.

Romario Shepherd smashed the first ball he faced for a six to leave the equation down to 12 off 12 before Sohail Tanvir kept his calm to guide the team over the line.

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Knight Riders will probably rue the poor start they got early on after being sent in. The top three contributed just 8 – all coming from Sunil Narine with Brendon McCullum and Colin Munro registering ducks – as they were left reeling at 26 for 4. Colin Ingram and Darren Bravo steadied the innings but Knight Riders kept gasping for momentum.

Dwayne Bravo scored a run-a-ball 22 towards the end while Kevon Cooper scored 15 off 10 to lift the side over 120. Emrit and Tahir gave away just 44 from their eight overs and shared three wickets between them. The knockout punch, however, was landed by Chris Green who ended with astonishing figures of 4-1-8-2.

Brief scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 122/7 in 20 overs (Colin Ingram 25; Chris Green 8-2) lost to Guyana Amazon Warriors 126/8 in 19.4 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 39; Khary Pierre 2-18) by two wickets.

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The defending champions are now sure of their place in Tuesday’s Playoff 1 in Guyana, with a second bite of the cherry in the semi-final should they need it.

Having been put in to bat by the Tridents, the Knight Riders made an imposing 180/5 but will still feel they could have got more on a night when half of their stellar top six found run-scoring easy and the other half found life far tougher.

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Chris Lynn got things started with three successive boundaries in the opening over from the first three balls he faced, adding two Hero Maximums before being comprehensively yorked by Chemar Holder for a whirlwind 29 from just 10 balls.

Denesh Ramdin then continued to thrive after his recent promotion to number three as the Knight Riders raced to 50 after just 3.3 overs. He struck five fours and two sixes in his 31-ball 51.

And at the end of the innings Dwayne Bravo maintained his astonishing hitting form in this season’s Hero CPL with two more sixes and three fours in a cameo of 33 from 20 balls.

It wasn’t so easy for everyone, though. In-form Colin Munro found life tougher than at any other time in the tournament. His 28 did take him to the highest ever run tally in a single Hero CPL season with potentially as many as four innings remaining, but came at under a run a ball.

Brendon McCullum, another mainstay of the Knight Riders�batting this season, made just 4 from 6 balls before Darren Bravo contributed 20 not out from 24 at the death.

Plenty of credit must go to the Tridents bowlers, who hauled things back impressively after Lynn and Ramdin had blasted the Knight Riders to 68/1 after the Power Play.

The Knight Riders would have been looking well north of 200 having reached 104/1 at halfway, so 180/5 represented a result for the Tridents. Leg-spinner Imran Khan was excellent in claiming 2/25 from his four overs with the big wickets of Munro and Ramdin to his name, while Mohammad Irfan kept things tight amid the carnage at the start and end of the innings to give up just 28 from his four.

The 180 would just about prove sufficient, though, despite a game attempt from an inexperienced Tridents top-order missing Hashim Amla, Steve Smith and Martin Guptill through injury.

It was spin that proved the Tridents�undoing with leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed bowling openers Sunny Sohal and Tion Webster with a pair of googlies after a solid opening stand, and returning to have Shai Hope stumped for 26 in his final over to finish with 3/28.

Tridents keeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran further enhanced his growing reputation with 44 from 32 balls, including back-to-back sixes to put a slight dent in Fawad Ahmed’s figures, and when he combined with his skipper Jason Holder to put together a 50-run stand in quick time for the fourth wicket there was a growing chance of Barbados pulling off an upset.

But Pooran was brilliantly run out by Dwayne Bravo’s direct hit from cover before Holder was caught in the deep off Ali Khan â€?who took punishment with the new ball but returned to bowl a brilliant, decisive 19th over that brought that wicket and cost just four runs – condemning the Tridents to a seventh straight defeat to end their 2018 campaign.

For the Knight Riders, though, it’s a sixth straight win in a season they will hope is far from done yet.

2018 HERO CARIBBEAN PREMIER LEAGUE �MATCH REPORT 28 

Trinbago Knight Riders 180/5 (Ramdin 51, DJ Bravo 33, Imran Khan 2/25, C Holder 2/42) beat Barbados Tridents 171/5 (Pooran 44, Fawad Ahmed 3/28) by 9 runs

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Patriots chased down the revised target of 118 (in 11 overs) with five balls to spare. With this victory, Patriots also sealed their spot for the playoffs.

After Oshane Thomas dismissed Evin Lewis for no score, Chris Gayle (41) and van der Dussen played a flurry of shots to not just help the hosts recover but also keep them in the game. At 65 for 1 in the seventh over, heavens opened up to halt play. After a gap of 30 minutes, when play resumed, Patriots needed 53 off 27 balls as per the DLS Method.

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Gayle, however, was dismissed by Krishmar Santokie to give Tallawahs a window of opportunity to stay in the game. At that crucial juncture, van der Dussen and Mahmudullah smacked Thomas to all corners of the ground to collect 27 runs in a single over. The highlight of the stunning assault was van der Dussen tonking Thomas into the nearby car park. The duo then played with a sense of calmness to guide the side home.

Earlier, Rovman Powell’s 40-ball 84 had ensured Tallawahs would cross the 200-run mark. His innings included 11 fours and four sixes. Glenn Phillips also cracked a crucial 29-ball 40. For Patriots, Ben Cutting took two scalps, While Alzarri Joseph, Carlos Brathwaite and Fabian Allen took one wicket each.

Patriots have nine points from nine matches and will play their final game of the league phase against Barbados Tridents on September 4. Meanwhile, Tallawahs, who have already progressed to the playoffs, will take on Amazon Warriors on September 5.

Brief scores: Jamaica Tallawahs 206/6 in 20 overs (Rovman Powell 84; Ben Cutting 2-29) lost to St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 118/3 in 10.1 overs (Rassie van der Dussen 45*, Chris Gayle 41; Adam Zampa 1-18) by seven wickets via DLS method.

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Tallawahs appeared well on course at 80 for 0 in nine overs, but Smith pierced the opening stand, removing both Johnson Charles and Glenn Phillips in the space of five balls. The former Australia captain has now modelled his bowling action on Shahid Afridi, and early indications are that it’s totally working.

Though they lost only three wickets in the whole innings, Tallawahs couldn’t score quickly enough in the final few overs, with Andre Russell never making it to the batting crease. All that meant Tridents felt immense relief. They had dropped five catches in the innings but somehow pulled off a coup to move up to fourth place on the CPL table.

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From Boca with love

Smith got warm receptions in King City while suiting up for the Toronto Nationals at the Global T20 Canada. The reaction wasn’t too much different south of the border in the USA on Wednesday night in Lauderhill.

Of the 13 CPL matches held in Lauderhill since 2016, the Tallawahs v Tridents showdown was by far the least attended with only about 700 fans at the ground. Among them were five Australians who moved from Sydney to Boca Raton last year and drove 20 miles south to Lauderhill carrying a sign with painted on message, “Go Steve Smith Aussie Aussie Aussie!”

Tim and Jane Anderson came with their three young kids – Bella, 9; Will, 7; and Maddie, 5. When Will was asked who his favorite player was he didn’t hesitate to shout, “Steve Smith!” then yelled “David Warner!” was his number two, showing Sandpaper-gate hasn’t scandalised every young cricket fan.

The Anderson family’s drive was made all the more worthwhile as Smith looked in vintage form to make 63 off 44 balls, his best score since Sandpaper gate. He clubbed five fours and three sixes in his knock, with the pick of the lot a wristy scoop over point for six off Russell’s bowling in the 18th over.

Smith lost his wicket in equally eye-catching fashion, his backswing knocking the bails off to be hit wicket while his shot found its way into the hands of Rovman Powell at long-on.

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Double, double, toil and trouble

Tridents fielding was abysmal with Ashley Nurse and Raymon Reifer dropping two catches each. Nurse was his own worst enemy in the sixth over after he couldn’t hang onto a firm drive from Charles, who was on 28 at the time and eventually went on to make 42. Worse was to come in the 12th and 13th overs when Reifer and Nurse dropped three chances in the space of eight balls.

Smith had just taken two wickets in his previous over – Charles caught by Martin Guptill at deep midwicket and Phillips on a dubious caught behind decision for 36 – when Kennar Lewis, on 2 off 7 balls at the time, skied a slog between Guptill and Reifer at long-on. Guptill was approaching in position to take the catch but was waved off by Reifer, who then got his hands into an awkward position and parried the ball over the rope.

Early in the next over, Lewis was on 9 when he sliced a delivery from Mohammad Irfan towards the third man boundary but Reifer was slow to react, his last-ditch dive not enough to convert the chance. Lewis took two runs off the drop, then skied a drive off the next delivery toward Nurse at long-on, who fumbled it so badly it went for six. Fourteen runs came off those three balls, but Lewis’ luck ran out soon after with Irfan having him caught behind.

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Reifer’s redemption

Tallawahs had plenty of wickets in hand, but were not exactly coasting to victory as 29 from 18 become 20 from 12 with Taylor and Miller at the crease. Tridents had a golden chance to break the stand in the 19th over when Miller, on 20, top-edged a pull off Wahab Riaz to Shai Hope running in from deep midwicket. Hope was there in plenty of time, but shelled a simple chance.

Nine runs were needed off the final over and Reifer was given the ball rather than captain Jason Holder keeping it for himself. The decision was justified as the left-arm quick kept nailing his yorkers and denying the Tallawahs. Russell, their leader and one of the best finishers in T20 cricket, could only watch from beyond the boundary.

Barbados Tridents 156 for 6 (Smith 63, Hope 43, Russell 2-32) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 154 for 3 (Charles 42, Smith 2-19) by two runs

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