'This one is for DJ Bravo,' Russell muscles TKR past Guyana

IN his final Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season, 40-year-old allrounder Dwayne Bravo was honoured by his Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) teammates as they pulled off a nervy five-wicket win versus defending champions Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Queen's Park Oval in St Clair on September 18.

The evening started with a guard of honour for the former TKR and West Indies captain, and the match concluded in quite spectacular fashion with Australian Tim David (31 not out off 24 balls) smashing a pair of sixes off Keemo Paul to clinch the game with four balls to spare.

The towering David scored the winning runs, but it was Jamaican allrounder Andre Russell who tilted the game in TKR's favour as they chased the 149-run target – clouting three sixes into leg side off leg-spinner Nathan Sowter (two for 37) in the 17th over which yielded 19 runs.

Russell was given the Man of the Match award for his timely cameo of 36 not out from 15 balls, and the 36-year-old took the opportunity to pay homage to Bravo.

"Bravo is definitely one we all listen and look up to and I know he's probably going to shed a bit of tears in the changing room," Russell said, at the post-match presentation. "I appreciate him. This one is for DJ Bravo."

After Romario Shepherd' brilliant innings of 51 not out from 24 balls helped the Amazon Warriors to 148 for seven, TKR stuttered during their reply and were 55 for three after the ten-over mark – leaving them needing 94 off 60 balls to get the win.

The debutant Sowter got the wickets of Shaqkere Parris (29) and Keacy Carty (ten) in the same over, with the latter being clean bowled by a googly.

TKR Captain Kieron Pollard (eight) followed soon after when he was bowled by a Shamar Joseph (one for 27) beauty, with star batsman Nicholas Pooran (19) falling via the lbw route to Paul as he missed a full toss on leg stump. At that stage, the hosts were 89 for five at the end of the 15th over and still needed 60 runs off the last five overs as Russell joined David in the middle.

And with the powerful and timely ball-striking from the two powerhouses, TKR were successfully steered home to notch their fourth win of the season.

Pollard said the surface wasn't "conducive to strokeplay," but he felt both teams still delivered a quality game of cricket.

"I think it was a fantastic game. It was a game we played in sort of spurts. The power play was decent for both teams. And then in the middle overs, we lost a couple of wickets," Pollard said.

"And then in the back end, obviously the power from both teams helped them to do well in the back end," he said,

"It was a good game of cricket altogether going down to the wire. It was low scoring and we came out on top."

Pollard thanked the TKR fans for coming out in their numbers to show their love and support.

"(The Queen's Park Oval) is an iconic venue. As I said at the toss, the crowd keeps coming. When you look at it there was a sea of red from about 5 pm and they were all trickling in, he said.

"By the time the toss was taken and we were ready to take the field, it was just a fantastic atmosphere. We can't thank them enough but we want them to continue to come and support TKR as we go forward."

With the win, TKR (eight points) soared from fourth to second on the six-team table, and they will look to continue their three-game winning streak and seal a playoff spot when they face Antigua and Barbuda Falcons from 7 pm today in St Clair.

TKR's lone loss so far this season came against the Falcons in Antigua on September 5. However, Pollard and his charges will be out for revenge in the return encounter as they continue the quest for an unprecedented fifth CPL crown.