Knight Riders' unbeaten streak continues ; Tridents get their important win

After two matches being held as return fixtures, yesterday there fixtures which meant that these teams have never faced off against, in this tournament. One is between the top two placed teams whereas on the other hand, these teams were in equal position, in terms of skills and in their game, but it would be showing different in the points table. 

Knight Riders VS Zouks

Tribago Knight Riders and St. Lucia Zouks were placed on the top of the points table. Knight Riders were unbeaten till now in this tournament, whereas Zouks have lost just a single game and won three off till now. Tribago Knight Riders had won the toss and elected to field first. This match became a rain affected game, yet still created an impact and a difference. 

Rakheem Cornwall and Andre Fletcher came into bat. At powerplay, Zouks scored 42/3 at the end of 6 overs. Their batting, again shocked. But, what's more surprising is the record posted by Dwayne Bravo. He becomes the first bowler to pick 500 wickets in T20 Cricket ( overall ). He achieved this massive feat by dismissing Rakheem Cornwall, in the mid of 3rd over, by making him to hit a shot at Point direction. Also, other than this feat, he was bowling exceptionally well, after a down trodden form in the previous matches. The slow track, helped him to bowl his cutters well. After Powerplay, the run rate, started dropping a bit, with Mark Deyal getting slowed down, along with Najibullah Zadran, who didn't found his timing to perfection. Nabi, played a good innings, once again with his late surge. His knock, helped them to get past atleast 111 in the course of 17 overs. Rain struck hard and for over a period of almost 1 and 1/2 hours. Zouks were at 111/7 at 17.1 overs.

After rain got cleared, the match resume with restriction in number of overs and also the target. The revised target given were 72 at 9 overs. Knight Riders came into bat. Zouks fought back with claiming quick wickets. They picked 4 wickets for just 37 runs, and meant that we won't give it that easy. The top four were knocked just in a matter of time. But, Darren Bravo and Tim Siefert, ensured his side getting home. Darren Bravo, had hit a six off Williams in the 7th over, and this six marks his 100th CPL Six. So, Bravo Brothers were right on the song. Champion stuff. Knight Riders, finished the game with almost one over to spare. Dwayne Bravo was awarded the Man of the Match, for his extraordinary spell of 2/7 in his 3 overs. Also, the champion stuff is back to the show !

Tridents VS Tallawahs

Both Tridents and Tallawahs were in need of a win to stay in the tournament. Both, were on a same sailing situation but Tridents were placed below in the points table, without finding a win for previous 3 games. Whereas Tallawahs, had just won previously against Warriors, in a low scoring match. Jamaica Tallawahs had won the toss and decided to field first, in a rain affected day night wicket. 

Johnson Charles and Shai Hope, both failed early. Their wickets were claimed brilliantly by Mujeeb Ur Rahman. He was asked to bowl along with a slip fielder, and he created an angle by bowling it perfectly at good length with an incoming curve. Charles tried to defend it without the movement of the foot and gave away his wicket at slip fielder., whereas Hope tried playing reverse sweep, missing it completely because of the extra bounce and steep. This hits straight on to his pads and bow ! LBW !! The situation is 20/2, where enters Kyle Mayers and the Captain Jason Holder. Both have a huge task beneath them. They started bit slow, but Mayers began to hit sixes confidently. He targeted each and very bowlers and placed his sixes over all parts of the ground. Especially his domination towards off side were remarkable. They both stood and built a partnership of 83 runs. This made a good recovery but wasn't good enough for so long. Holder was dismissed by Brathwaite. This dismissal marked some nightmare for Tridents, as again the failure of middle order began. The failure were so miserable. Spinners were so effective in the wicket with the duo of Lammichane and Mujeeb, rattling the mentality of the batsmen. From 83/2, the situation shifted towards 90/6. Still, Mayers were there and he started to strike hard. He smashed 29 runs off single over, bowled by Brathwaite. This single over with 4 sixes and 1 four, were also a reason for the benefit of Tridents. Mayers scored a beautiful 85 and this knock helped Tridents to post a score of 148/7. At day/night matches, even these scores were so hard to chase.

Tallawahs came into bat. Tridents done well by dismissing the on form Glenn Philipps for a duck. This immediately created a ruckus. The form out batting of Walton continued yet again with getting him dismissed off the second over. Holder didn't leave with only Walton. He picked up Powell and the situation for Tallawahs, tenses. Captain get rid of Captain and this placed them at 26/3 at the end of 6 overs. After powerplay, too the situation never really went back to Tallawahs. Asif Ali, was dismissed by a Tossed up delivery from Hayden Walsh Jr. With this, the hopes gone down, and the fight gone down. Tridents pipped through Tallawahs and ensured their victory. Tallawahs scored 112/9 at the end of 20 overs and Man of the Match award was given to Kyle Mayers for his scintillating knock.