Photo: Lendl Simmons top scored for the Trinbago Knight Riders with 54 not out as they easily disposed of the Jamaica Tallawahs to advance to the finals of the Hero CPL T-20 competition.
The imperious Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) continued their relentless march in the Hero CPL T-20 competition, as they chalked up their 11th consecutive win in the tournament to blow away a toothless Jamaica Tallawahs team in semifinal one at the Brain Lara Cricket Academy on Tuesday.
The TKR took exactly 15 overs to knock off the 108 set by the Tallawahs in their 20 overs at bat, to advance to their 4th final in the tournament. 97 run partnership
Tion Webster ended the game with a brilliant straight drive off the bowling of Carlos Brathwaite as the Trinis ended on 111-1 after the Tallawahs had closed their innings on 107-7 after a rather tepid batting display.
After another woeful display with the bat, the Tallawahs gave themselves a sniff of a chance when Sunil Narine was bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman for only 4 runs in the second over with the score on 14-1, but that was all the joy the Tallawahs would have with the ball.
Lendl Simmons, 54 not out and young Webster who made 44 not out, then put on a 97 run partnership as they batted sensibly to steer the TKR to Thursday’s final.
While the Tallawahs batsmen struggled to get the ball off the square, Simmons scored six fours and two sixes in his knock, while Webster had six fours and one six in a brilliant batting display, as the TKR continued to impress in the tournament.
The Tallawahs who sputtered their way into the semifinals were under the gun from the first over when they lost their first wicket, that of Jermaine Blackwood bowled by Akeal Hosein without a run on the board. Things got even worse when their best batsman in the tournament, Glenn Phillips, went caught Ali Khan, bowled Khary Pierre for just 2 with the score reading Tallawahs 2-2.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman failed to trouble the scorers as the Tallawahs wobbled at 10-3 in the third over and they were four down inside the powerplay when Asif Ali went at 25-4 in the fifth over.
Nkrumer Bonner and captain Rovman Powell steadied the innings and seemed set to put together a proper target for TKR to chase before Bonner was bowled off the inside edge by Fawad Ahmed for 41 at 63-5.
Things then got even worse for the Jamaicans when their most destructive batsman, Andre Russell, was wrongly given out caught by Darren Bravo off Sunil Narine for 2 at 68-6, even though the ball clearly hit the top of the pad on the way through to the fielder at slip.
After that, Powell tried to push things along for the Tallawahs, but after hitting Pierre for a six high over log off, he tried to repeat the shot and only succeeded in holding out to Kieron Pollard who was ideally positioned on the long off boundary, for 33 at 92-7.
Brathwaite, who has been a shadow of himself with the bat this year, then helped to steer his team to triple figures, but for all intents and purposes, 108 was never going to be a target that would trouble the powerful TKR batting lineup. Hosein was the pick of the bowlers for TKR, finishing with 3 for 14 from his 4 overs while, Pierre finished with 2 for 29 from his four overs.
The final will be played at the same venue on Thursday starting at 9:00am Jamaica time.
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