BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN what can be termed the most thrilling game of the 2019 CPL T20 season, captain of the St. Kitts-Nevis Patriots, Carlos Brathwaite led from the front with both bat and ball to put a dent in Trinbago Knight Riders’ winning streak.
Playing last evening (Sept. 17) at Warner Park, Brathwaite scored a 30-ball 64 to keep his team in contention in the hunt of 217 for victory following a collapse in the middle overs.
In the final over, the Patriots were one run shy of victory which brought the game into Sup Over, the second time in the history of the Hero Caribbean Premier League.
Here, again, the brilliance of Brathwaite was showcased with both ball and bat.
Taking first to the crease, the Knigh Riders had a quick-fire partnership of 49 off four overs between Lendl Simmons and Mark Deyal.
Deyal was the initial aggressor, hitting two maximums in nine balls before he miscued a full-toss from Brathwaite and was caught by Sheldon Cottrell on mid-on for 21.
Simmons was then joined by Colin Munro who clobbered Brathwaite for a six and a four in the final over of the Powerplay.
Munro then took a back seat as the in-form Simmons brought up his 50 in the seventh over, clobbering Ryad Emrit for his second six.
The Patriots’ bowlers had strayed on both sides of the wicket and Simmons had majestically dispatched to all parts of the ground.
Following the two maximums off Emrit, four more were scored in the space of eight balls from Mohammad Hafeez and Alzarri Joseph.
However, just when it seemed as though Simmons would have chalked up his first century at this level, he was deceived by a Cottrell’s bouncer which he skied and was taken at point by Brooks.
He departed for 90 off 45 balls.
Following his departure, the Knight Riders’ captain, Kieron Pollard joined Munro at the crease, but Joseph had managed to pull things back and the two of them were dismissed in quick succession.
Munro was caught by Brooks off Joseph for 28 and Pollard was caught by Akeem Jordon off Brathwaite for 19.
However, Darren Bravo (24) and James Neesham (22) restored the momentum with an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 40 runs in the last three overs, taking the total to 216.
Brathwaite claimed two for 48, Joseph one for 25 and Cottrell one for 40.
In reply, the Patriots lost an early wicket when Devon Thomas (1) was caught by Pollard off Anderson Phillip with the score on 4.
Laurie Evans then joined Evin Lewis and the latter brutally assaulted Neesham, taking his first over for 31 runs before the wily Ali Khan and Phillips kept him at the non-striker’s end by bowling tightly to his partner.
Evans was the next to go as he was caught by Bravo off Phillip with the score on 67 after 5.6 overs.
Good captaincy by Pollard, who had Phillip bowling to a plan, resulted in Lewis losing his wicket as he sliced the fourth delivery of the eighth over to the captain at deep point with the score at 75.
Hafeez was then joined by Brathwaite, and after facing 12 balls he was caught by Pollard off Pierre for 7.
With the score standing at 80 for 4, the required run rate had increased to 12 an over and, when Shanarch Brooks joined Brathwaite, his captain ensured that he found the boundary in every over, while Books scored at a run-a-ball.
But he was caught by Deyar off Pollard on the fifth ball of the 16th over for 20 off 16 when the score was 164.
Brathwaite followed nine runs later when he was caught by Bravo off Khan in his attempt for another maximum. He top scored for his team with 64 off 30 balls, which included 4x6s and 6x4s.
With Brathwaite back in the stands, all seemed lost as the Patriots needed
44 runs from 19 balls for victory, But Emrit and Fabian Allen pushed the score to 198 before the latter was caught by Bravo off Khan for 12 off 8 on the fifth ball of the 19th over.
Neesham did not have a good day. He bowled the last over to Emrit and Joseph and they belted him for 18 to take the game into the Super Over, with Emrit scoring 21 off 11 that included 2x6s and one four.
Batting first in the Super Over, Brathwaite and Lewis took to the crease, but it was the captain who took charge and blasted Ali Khan to give the St. Kitts-Nevis Patriots an 18-run over.
Brathwaite scored 17 and Lewis one.
Pollard and Bravo were the chosen pair selected to get 19 runs to secure victory for the Trinbago Knight Riders.
But this was not to be as Brathwaite took charge with the ball despite coach Robin Singh’s suggestion of bowling Joseph.
With pace and deception Brathwaite conceded only five runs, with Bravo losing his wicket by the run-out route.
