The Saint Lucia Kings defeated the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) for the third season in a row at the Queen’s Park Oval, following a commanding victory on Wednesday night.
The game saw the return of Saint Lucian Keon Gaston after an injury, while Charith Asalanka replaced Johann Jeremiah.
The Kings began the fixture with a blitz, featuring a 60-run opening stand between Tim Seifert and Kamil Pooran after being put in to bat first by TKR. When Pooran lost his wicket for a well-played 25, the momentum did not slow down. John Campbell added impetus, keeping the run rate above 10 per over during the first half of the innings.
The Kings’ batsmen played shots all around the ground. Seifert was the most successful in this effort, continuing his excellent run of form by scoring a brilliant century. He finished 105 not out off 61 deliveries, smashing eight fours and five sixes. The Kiwi’s knock is the highest by any Kings player this year. The team finished on 211, their highest-ever score at the Queen’s Park Oval in the CPL, surpassing the previous best of 167/5 set by the Zouks iteration of the franchise in 2019.
TKR spinner Sunil Narine also brought up his 650th T20 wicket during the innings, becoming only the second bowler to reach the milestone after Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan.
The Knight Riders also got off to a flying start. Colin Munro and Narine put on 70 runs for the first wicket within seven overs. However, back-to-back wickets from Kings skipper Roston Chase stymied their momentum after the powerplay. Following the second wicket, captain Nicholas Pooran survived only one delivery before also falling to Chase.
TKR struggled to get their run chase back on track until the entrance of former skipper Kieron Pollard. Pollard, the highest run-scorer in T20 history, blasted 65 off 26 deliveries with six 4s and five 6s. But after Pollard fell to leading wicket-taker Matthew Forde, the curtain was practically drawn on TKR’s hopes. The Boys in Blue eventually won the game by 36 runs, their largest victory by runs this season.
Speaking after the victory, Seifert, Man of the Match, said: “The most important thing is we got the win tonight against a very good team. It probably wasn’t the best start for us in the first five games, but we said to ourselves to forget about that and focus on the next five. Now we’re two for two. So yeah, it’s a great night, and to come here and win gives huge confidence to the boys.”
The Kings sit at the top of the table with this win.
