Knights Dominate Patriots to keep up the Dream Run
Brief Scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 174 for 4 (Simmons 96, DM Bravo 36, Drakes 2-35) beat St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots (Lynn 34, Da Silva 29, Raza 3-16, Tambe 1-12, Hosein 1-15, DJ Bravo 1-17) at 115/ 7 by 59 runs.
Toss: SKNP Won, chose to field
Man of The Match: Lendl Simmons
What began as a sunny day for the Patriots after their toss win, would soon be overshadowed by rain clouds and the Knights! This match saw a major reshuffle in the playing 11, with DJ Bravo leading the squad, as quite a few senior players were given some much-deserved rest.
The 8th consecutive victory for the Knights keep our stellar record this season unblemished, building up to what we hope will be a cracker of a season as we play for #TheHomeRun.
DJ Bravo (on the win): "I'm very happy to see the likes of Tambe come in, Akeal & Khary Pierre - we won the game when we dominated in the powerplay with the ball. Lendl's innings started very slowly but the partnership between him and Darren laid the foundation. Anything above 160 is always good. As a batter, once you've made runs you'll feel confident. The team supports Lendl 100% regardless of his form. As a team, we don't let him feel that pressure. That will only do well for his confidence. He showed his class today. I think everyone is happy for each other's success. We encourage players to play with the right attitude and intensity. Every time we play a cricket game, we have to learn. We had four changes today, but you wouldn't think we had any changes. We haven't won the tournament but I think all TKR fans would be happy with the cricket that we're playing."
Lendl Simmons (Man of The Match): "I've been struggling for the past couple of games. I didn't get the start to the tournament I wanted but the team was winning. At first you need to give yourself a chance and get in. That's what I did, then I blasted off at the back end. I bat well with Bravo and Pollard, we grew up batting together so I'm accustomed to batting with these guys. I've had three 90s in CPL so far. I thought in the last over I'd get a boundary but it didn't happen. It bodes well for the team that I'm finding some form, with Narine to come back into the team. We're unbeaten so far. Today we didn't play our best XI but it just goes to show the men on the bench are as good as our best XI."