– Knight Riders win with 1 ball to spare
A swashbuckling innings of 94 not out off of 36 deliveries by Darren Bravo, ably supported by Brendon McCullum’s knock of 68 from 42 balls, saw the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) home by five wickets with one ball to spare.
Chasing the St. Lucia Stars’ substantial total of 212 runs from their allotted overs, the Knight Riders found themselves way behind the required run rate, when Bravo joined McCullum at the fall of the third wicket, with the total on 71 for 3, after 9.2 overs, and the Stars confident of ending their 14 game losing streak.
It was not to be, as the pair decimated the Stars’ attack for 138 runs from 53 deliveries, with a barrage of sixes and boundaries. Bravo hammered ten sixes and six boundaries, while McCullum contributed six maximums and three fours.
The home crowd at Darren Sammy National Stadium, Gros Islet, St. Lucia was stunned into silence as the rampaging duo treated the bowling with utter disdain. In the 16th over of the Knight Riders’ innings, Bravo swung the match back in his team’s favour, as he took Kieron Pollard for 32 runs: 6, 6, 6, 6, 2, 6. At that stage, the Stars must have had the feeling that it was just not going to be their night, as the TKR reached 160 for 3, with 53 needed off 24 deliveries.
Despite losing two wickets, and scoring only two runs in the 19th over, the result was a formality, as Denesh Ramdin’s massive six off the penultimate ball with one required, concluded the match.
Earlier, opener David Warner, 72 not out, Rakheem Cornwall, 53, and Pollard 65 not out had propelled the Stars to a very respectable total of 212 for 2.
