Narine is the man: TKR beat Tallawahs by seven wickets

ANOTHER half-century by Sunil Narine and a team effort among the bowlers led Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) to its second win in as many matches in the 2020 Hero Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, on Thursday night.

TKR defeated the Jamaica Tallawahs by seven wickets and are now the only undefeated team in the tournament. TKR, who got past Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL opener on Tuesday, moved to the top of the table with four points. Tallawahs now have one win and one loss.

Narine, who scored an even 50 on Tuesday, hit 53 to guide TKR to 136/3 in 18.1 overs after Tallawahs posted 135/8 in 20 overs batting first.

After a 30-minute delay because of rain, Tallawahs opener Glenn Phillips held the innings together with a knock of 58 that helped his team to the total.

It was a disastrous start for the Tallawahs as they were reduced to 21/3 after three overs. Fast bowler Ali Khan, who had a disappointing campaign in 2019, grabbed two of the three wickets early on.

Khan first got the wicket of Chadwick Walton (duck) when the right-hander skied a delivery to Fawad Ahmed at short fine leg, before West Indies Under-19 fast bowler Jayden Seales got his second CPL wicket when he trapped Nicholas Kirton (duck) leg before. There have been some spectacular catches already in this year's CPL and Dwayne Bravo continued the standard.

Dwayne, fielding at mid-on, had to run and dive to complete a catch to dismiss Rovman Powell for eight as Khan grabbed another.

Despite wickets falling around him, Phillips looked at ease and he punished Seales with back-to-back boundaries. Phillips found an able partner in Asif Ali as the pair led a fightback by the Tallawahs.

Ali struck left-arm spinner Khary Pierre for a six after being introduced into the attack and then also slammed Narine for six as Tallawahs moved to 46/3 after six overs.

It was not all power by Phillips and Ali as they did an excellent job in picking up the singles.

Ali's cameo came to an end when he was bowled by Narine for 22 off 16 balls. He gave himself some room and attempted a cut shot but got his furniture disturbed.

The fall of Ali slowed down the Tallawahs scoring rate as Carlos Brathwaite joined Phillips. Ahmed, who has returned to TKR this season after representing the St Lucia Zouks last year, bowled Brathwaite for one as the Tallawahs were now reduced to 63/5 in the 11th over.

Other than a poor 13th over in which Ahmed conceded 17 runs, TKR kept Tallawahs at bay despite the destructive pair of Phillips and Andre Russell at the crease. The pair put on 36 for the sixth wicket before Seales got the wicket of Phillips for 58, caught by Dwayne at the square leg boundary. Phillips faced 42 balls and struck five fours and four sixes. Tallawahs were 99/6 now after 15.2 overs and in need of some boundaries to get close to 150.

Dwayne has been criticised by the TKR fans for conceding runs in the death overs, but he got it right this time. With some help from Seales and Khan, Tallawahs could only reach 135/8 in 20 overs. The quality of TKR's fielding continued as Colin Munro ran to his left from long-off and used the wet outfield to slide on his knees to take the catch to give Dwayne the wicket.

Khan took 2/25 in four overs and Seales snatched 2/21 in three overs. Narine (1/19), Ahmed (1/18) and Bravo (1/32) grabbed one wicket apiece.

In reply, TKR lost Simmons for a duck, before Narine and Munro put on 75 runs for the second wicket to set up an easy run chase.

After moving slowly to 14/1 after four overs, Narine struck spinner Ramaal Lewis for a six and a four in one over as TKR moved to 28/1 after five overs.

Munro was a by-stander as Narine continued to dominate the Tallawahs bowlers. In the eighth over, Narine slammed Russell for two fours and one six.

Brathwaite, who is normally a strong fielder, dropped two catches in quick succession to help TKR's chase.

Narine got a single to bring up his 50 as TKR stayed on top of the contest as they got to 65/1 after ten overs at the innings break.

Narine's innings came to an end when he was caught by Brathwaite at long leg for 53 off 38 deliveries which included seven fours and two sixes.

After Darren Bravo was out for 14, Munro started to show the dominance that has made him one of the top TKR batsmen over the last few years with a flurry of boundaries.

TKR captain Kieron Pollard joined Munro and the pair took TKR to 136/3 in 18.1 overs to seal an easy win. Munro ended unbeaten on 49 off 46 balls with five fours and two sixes and Pollard was five not out.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman was the best bowler for Tallawah with 1/13 in four overs.

SUMMARISED SCORES

Jamaica Tallawahs 135/8 (Glenn Phillips 58, Andre Russell 25, Asif Ali 22; Jayden Seales 2/21, Ali Khan 2/25, Sunil Narine 1/19, Fawad Ahmed 1/18, Dwayne Bravo 1/32) vs Trinbago Knight Riders 136/3 (18.1 overs) (S Narine 53, Colin Munro 49 not out; Mujeeb Ur Rahman 1/13) TKR won by seven wickets