Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) created history in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) by becoming the first team to successfully defend their Twenty20 title when they whipped the Guyana Warriors by eight wickets at the Brian Lara Stadium in South Trinidad on Sunday night.
Despite a 90-minute delay because of rain, the Guyana Warriors, which was put in to bat by Captain Dwayne Bravo, was unable to get back into the match despite Denesh Ramdin’s hit wicket dismissal and Darren Bravo pulling a hamstring.
The victory clinched Trinbago Knight Riders’s third championship title overall, with their first defeat coming as Red Steel. They won in 2015, 2017 and 2018. Jamaica Tallawahs defeated Guyana Warriors in 2016 by nine wickets.
It was the fourth meeting between the Trinbago Knight Rider and Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL, who have failed on each occasion to lift the trophy.
The Trinbago Knight Rider had limited the Guyana Amazon Warriors 147 for nine and scored 150 for two wickets with opening batsman and Man-of-the-Match Colin Munro and Brendon McCallum, who ignited the chase with 39 off 24 balls with five fours and two sixes.
Munro became the first batsman to ever score 500 runs in a CPL season and was voted Man-of-the-Series.
His swashbuckling knock off 39 balls (five fours and three sixes) had the Guyanese players heads quickly dropping as their fate became clearer.
Munro ensured that the rain did not affect the match even as the Trinbago Knight Riders were ahead on the Duckworth-Lewis system if the match had ended.
It was the South African-born New Zealander sixth half-century of a record-breaking season in which he averaged over 50.
The Trinbago Knight Riders, who had lost to the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the semi-finals came back to beat the St Kitts Patriots the night before to get into the finals on Sunday night.
Trinbago Knight Riders leg-spinner Khary Peirre, 26, who claimed three for 39, was among the top 10 wicket-takers with 11 scalps. He has played fewer games than any bowler above him.
With the big hitters gone, Guyana wickets began to crumble after the break for rain.
Off-spinner Sunil Narine got rid of Sohil Tanvir (3) in the 14th over before a double blow by Dwayne Bravo in the 16th over — sending back the Guyanese captain Chris Green and Jason Mohammed back to the pavilion — which crippled an already limping batting.
