Trinbago Knight Riders beat the Zouks in the eliminator to set up qualifier against the Tallawahs
Aug 5, 2016 at 12:15 PM
The Caribbean Premier League has entered its knock-out stage with the Guyana Amazon Warriors already securing a place in the final with a victory in the first qualifier.
The Trinbago Knight Riders and the St Lucia Zouks fought it out in the eliminator for a place in the next qualifier on Thursday and the Knight Riders got the better of the Zouks on the night to set up the second qualifier against the Tallawahs tomorrow at the Basseterre.
Dwayne Bravo won the toss and asked the Zouks to baton a decent Basseterre surface hoping to wrap them up for a low target but the Zouks managed to put in a team performance with the bat as they needed contributions from almost every player in setting up a target of 165 in the 20 overs.
Darren Sammy played a blinder of an innings to get them there where he scored 40 of just 22 balls and was helped by a cameo from Shane Shillingford right at the end that saw the required run rate go past the 8-run mark.
R Beaton was the man with the ball for the Knight Riders as he managed to pick 3 wickets up and gave away just the 23 runs in his 4 overs.
The Knight Riders did not have the best start to their chase losing Hashim Amla early but a steady 30 from Umar Akmal and match-winning 49* from Brendon McCullum was enough for the Knight Riders to seal the deal.
Sunil Narine had some final in the final few overs that saw the Knight Riders finish the job with more than an over to spare.
D Johnson, who was supposed to be the spearhead of the attack was taken t the cleaners giving away 44 runs in 3.3 overs in a game to forget of the bowler.
The Knight Riders, with this 5 wicket victory, have qualified for the second qualifier in the competition and will face the Jamaica Tallawahs in a race to the final at the Basseterre.
Brendon McCullum was named the man of the match for his superb effort that helped the Knight Riders chase the target down.