A third successive loss has put the Trinbago Knight Riders on the brink of elimination. In a closely fought contest, the Knight Riders faltered in their chase of 184 and fell eight runs short against the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons on Wednesday (September 2). While the Falcons consolidated their spot at the top of the table, the Knight Riders are clinging on at sixth place with only a mathematical chance of progression.
It was in the 18th over that Keiron Pollard, returning to the side and possibly playing his last T20 game in front of his home crowd, walked off to a standing ovation having been caught after a fighting 36-ball 41. Pollard’s efforts came at a time of need for the Knight Riders who were reeling at 57 for 4 in the sixth over. Rahkeem Cornwall was responsible for most of the early damage as he removed a dangerous-looking Nicholas Pooran (22 off 10) having already dismissed openers Colin Munro and Sunil Narine in the second over.
Pollard shared a 36-run stand with Justin Greaves to revive the chase before joining hands with Joshua Da Silva to raise the Knight Riders’ hopes. With 42 runs needed off the last four overs, a tidy four-run over from Shadab Khan put the pressure back on TKR and eventually led to Pollard’s dismissal in the following over. Da Silva fought on and brought up fifty with a six off the very last delivery but was unable to score the 26 runs needed for victory off the final over.
Earlier in the game, the Falcons openers got the team off to a flying start with Cornwall plundering four consecutive boundaries off Akeal Hosein in the very first over. Evin Lewis then backed it up by taking Lahiru Kumara for 15 runs in the following over. Sunil Narine and Usman Tariq pulled things back with a couple of tight overs and kept the Falcons down to 43 for 1 in the Powerplay. A couple more wickets meant that things were evenly poised at 70 for 3 after 10 overs.
The game changed with Hasan Nawaz and Moeen Ali seizing control. Nawaz was particularly destructive and struck 76 off just 48 balls before being dismissed in the final over. Moeen Ali also played an important role in their 108-run partnership as the Falcons finished with a formidable 183 for 4 with 50 of those runs coming off the last four overs.
Brief Scores: Antigua and Barbuda Falcons 183/4 in 20 overs (Hasan Nawaz 76, Moeen Ali 32; Usman Tariq 1-25) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 175/7 in 20 overs (Joshua Da Silva 54*, Kieron Pollard 41; Rakheem Cornwall 3-17) by 8 runs.
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