Pierre happy to make impact when needed

DESPITE not owning a permanent spot in the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) starting XI for the 2018 Hero Caribbean Premier League, Khary Pierre is happy to make an impact on the team when called upon. The left-arm spinner displayed another top performance on Wednesday to help the Knight Riders to a 67-run win over Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Queen’s Park Oval.

Pierre snatched two for 21 in four overs in his third match of the tournament, and the Queen’s Park cricketer now has six wickets for the tournament. His economy rate of 5.75 runs per over is the lowest in the tournament among bowlers with at least six wickets. Pierre is ranked 21st among the top wicket takers in the tournament, ahead of his team-mate Sunil Narine who has played eight matches. Narine has been economical at 7.08 per over, but has struggled to take wickets with only four scalps under his name and is ranked 26th.

Leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed has been TKR’s top spinner with 12 wickets from eight matches and an economy rate of 6.46.

Pierre said he was eager to contribute to the team’s success, after being left out of the team against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots at Warner Park in St Kitts on Saturday.

“First I would like to thank God for the opportunity to come out there and perform. Having not played the last game, I just wanted to go out there and have an impact, so I just backed myself and backed my ability to go out there and help the team to perform to the best of our ability,” Pierre said. TKR captain Dwayne Bravo has been unpredictable as usual when making bowling changes during the tournament. Pierre, who sometimes opens the bowling alongside Ali Khan, made room for Sunil Narine to open on Wednesday night. Pierre said the TKR bowling attack is quite versatile and can adjust depending on the match situation.

“We have a well-rounded team with players for different situations with a lot of variations – a leg spinner, an off spinner, myself, and a seam attack. The situation called for a different type of game, so we just switched it up. It is great to have a good all-round team.” TKR took some key catches in the field, including a brilliant catch at long on just inside the boundary by Javon Searles. On the good fielding effort, Pierre said, “We back ourself in the field. We set high standards, so we just go out there and try to impact the game as best as possible.”

TKR had a sluggish start to the tournament this year, only winning one of three matches at home before winning four straight on the road. “The fans have been behind us, so we just try to win this game and win the next game coming up..we know that they have been supporting us all along, and we are just happy to get them the win.”