Trinbago Knight Riders 150 for 6 (Pollard 51) beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 147 for 7 (Da Silva 50, Khan 3-19) by four wickets
A power-packed pyrotechnic show from Kieron Pollard helped Trinbago Knight Riders sew up top spot on the CPL table with a four-wicket win over St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
Knight Riders looked in danger of finishing third on the table, leaving them vulnerable to weather in the semi-finals, having slumped to 52 for 3 in the ninth over chasing Patriots target of 148. But Pollard plundered 51 off 22 balls to make the chase a formality.
The result meant Trinbago Knight Riders will face fourth-placed St Lucia Kings in the first semi-final while Patriots finished in third on the table and face Guyana Amazon Warriors in the other semi-final.
Pollard struck his first two balls for six off Jon-Russ Jaggesar to ease the tension. Two overs later he clubbed Jaggesar over the rope three more times to take 23 runs from the over to reduce the required run-rate from well over eight per over to just on a run-a-ball.
He cruised to his half-century in just 20 balls setting a new Knight Riders record for the fastest half-century in their history. He fell shortly after for 51 but the damage was done. Despite a couple of nervous moments, Isuru Udana steered the side home in the 19th over finishing with 25 not out from 16 balls.
Pollard's innings overshadowed a phenomenal spell from Fawad Ahmed, who took 2 for 16 from his four overs to put Patriots in a position to close out the game.
Earlier, Ali Khan took 3 for 19 from four overs while Udana claimed 2 for 28 to ensure Knight Riders were chasing less than 150 on an excellent batting surface. Patriots' innings stalled through the middle overs despite Joshua Da Silva's 50 off 45 balls and Dwayne Bravo's excellent cameo of 25 off 13 balls at the back end of the innings.
With Evin Lewis resting after his century the previous night, Da Silva got off to a brisk start alongside assistant coach Jonathan Carter, who was called in as an injury replacement at short notice. The pair scored 51 in the Powerplay after the early loss of Chris Gayle but the innings slowed through the middle overs.
Khan put the brakes on conceding eight from his first two overs and had Carter dropped twice. He was rewarded later in the innings when Da Silva scooped him straight to short fine to give him the final word in their verbal battle. Khan then removed Sherfane Rutherford with a searing yorker that ripped out off stump before Fabian Allen chopped on to hand Khan his second-best figures of the tournament.
Bravo stood firm smashing consecutive sixes from Ravi Rampaul to lift the total up to 147. Udana's consecutive wickets in the 19th over, including Bravo, helped give Knight Riders a very chasable target.
Kieron Pollard
Isuru Udana
Fawad Ahmed
Ali Khan
Joshua Da Silva
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots
Trinbago Knight Riders
Patriots vs Trinbago
Caribbean Premier League
Alex Malcolm is an Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo
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