Bravo: Knight Riders deliver at crunch time

DWAYNE BRAVO, captain of Trinbago Knight Riders, said his team’s championship pedigree in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) came to the fore on Sunday night in their nail-biting last-ball victory over the Jamaica Tallawahs at the Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The Knight Riders, boosted by a fourth-wicket stand of 107 from Darren Bravo and Colin Munro, as well as a whirlwind cameo of 36 from 11 balls from Dwayne Bravo, still needed Javon Searles’ boundary of the final ball of the match to get over the line, in a tense encounter that had fans buzzing all over the region. Dwayne Bravo, speaking to the media after arguably the match of the tournament, said winning the CPL twice and being the reigning champions had taught his team how to excel and overcome adversity.

“We are two-time champions and these kinds of situations we thrive on. You don’t win tournaments without playing games like this, and it’s good we have no doubt. In crunch times, more often than not we come out on the winning side, so that shows good side of character, self-belief we have among ourselves and the depth of the squad.

“That’s the way TKR play and we want to continue playing that way and take each game at a time. We respect all teams because there are a lot of talented players in this tournament – locally and internationally – so two points is two points,” he said.

The elder Bravo said TKR were always confident of chasing 183 for victory, despite the Tallawahs breaking free of their shackles and scoring 124 runs in their last ten overs to get to a challenging 182 for five in their 20 overs.

“I’m happy with 182. The way how the tournament going, teams making over 200 and still losing. So to get Jamaica restricted to 180 (odd) on a fairly small ground on a good batting wicket and a long batting lineup, we would be happy at the halfway stage. I’m 100 per cent sure Jamaica would have rather chased 180 than defend 180...so we made the right decision (to bowl first),” he added. The experienced all-rounder said he enjoyed the Florida experience, but acknowledged Tallawahs captain Andre Russell had a point when he ranted to the media on Saturday that his team’s three-match home-stand there felt more like away fixtures, as the Guyana Amazon Warriors and TKR fans dominated the stadium over the weekend.

“It’s always good to play cricket over here. The guys love to come to Florida. You see a lot of kids and families around. For us it was a short one (stay), but we still enjoyed it. The wicket is good, and that’s important, because the fans get their money’s worth. We had a good turnout, with a lot of red flags, and I’m happy people who from Trinidad and (who) live here came and support us...It’s unfair to Tallawahs as well, but having said that, I’m happy, we got the two points and I’m out of here now, so it’s not really my business.”

Addressing the media after the loss, Jamaica Tallawahs batsman Ross Taylor disagreed with his skipper that the crowd support – or lack thereof – played a role in their defeat.

“No, a lot in the grounds in the world you hear 50- 60- 70,000 people. I don’t know what the capacity is here, but players want to play in front of big crowds, and when you want to play in front of big crowds, noise is going to be a factor. But I don’t think it was a factor,” he said.

The New Zealander said after winning their first three games and losing two on the trot now, the Tallawahs have a couple days to regroup and refocus before taking on the Barbados Tridents tomorrow in their final match in Florida.