Gayle credits players for composure at Queen’s Park Oval

ST KITTS and Nevis Patriots captain Chris Gayle credited his players for keeping their composure against the Trinbago Knight Riders on Saturday night, knowing the noisy and passionate fans at the Queen’s Park Oval makes it a challenging place to visit.

The Patriots stunned the capacity crowd at the Oval with a 42-run win to hand the Knight Riders its second loss in three matches at home to start the 2018 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The Patriots now have one win from two matches, after losing to Guyana Amazon Warriors by six wickets in their first match.

On Saturday, Patriots posted a daunting 203 for seven in 20 overs while batting first, before limiting an impressive Knight Riders line-up to 161/8. After the match, Gayle said it is fulfilling to defeat the defending champions at home.

“Trinidad has a great team and they are the defending champions; and when you are playing against a team that defending their title, it is always going to be difficult especially at home as well...Trinidad supporters are very supportive, the moment you get them a bit silent, we feel a bit more relaxed and comfortable,” Gayle said.

The veteran cricketer said the key for his players was staying calm. “They can make a lot of noise and I think players could get nervous when they out there, but we kept our composure today and I thought it was a great all-round performance from the team.”

The Patriots got off to a poor start, losing two wickets in the first over, but contributions from multiple batsmen steered them to the massive total.

Devon Thomas led the way, scoring 58 off 34 deliveries – his first ever T20 half-century, Carlos Brathwaite cracked 41 off 15 balls, Gayle contributed 35 from 30 and Ben Cutting made 25 not out off 18.

Discussing the batting performance, Gayle said, “We had a shaky start losing two wickets in the first over, then Devon Thomas came in and played a blinding innings and took some pressure off me a bit. Then in the back end, Carlos and Cut (Cutting) got us across 200, which I think was a brilliant effort.”

The Jamaican is anticipating the Patriots’ next match against his former team the Jamaica Tallawahs in Jamaica on Wednesday. He said, “(I expect) another boo,” Gayle said laughing.