Carlos Brathwaite was the all-round hero in a stunning victory for the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots Super Over, as the Trinbago Knight Riders’ victory in the 2019 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) ended in the most dramatic manner.
Brathwaite first made 64 of 30 balls to re-launch the Patriots’ pursuit of the Knights Riders 216/4 after sinking to 80/4. When the score ended after every 20 overs, Brathwaite struck two sixes and one four to bring the Patriots from their Super Over to 18/0 before completing six nerve-free deliveries when TKR only collected 5/1 in response.
In the regular season, Lendl Simmons had continued his good form with a 45-ball 90, which brought the Knight Riders on their way to another big overall victory.
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But another explosive contribution from Evin Lewis at the head of the Order and Brathwaite’s spectacular intervention brought the Patriots within reach.
Experienced all-rounder Rayad Emrit then-undefeated 21 of 11 balls with two Hero Maximums and most of all four of the last of the innings on the third man to increase the score and send the match into the first Super Over of the 2019 Hero CPL.
A required course, which had approached 15 at once, had been lowered by Brathwaite to 62 runs from the last 30 balls before Ali Khan, it seemed, had made a significant contribution with the wickets of Brathwaite and Fabian Allen 2/27 of four ended on a night when bowlers generally got a punch.
No one likes James Neesham, who finished the fateful finale of the regular game and scored a record-breaking 68 from his four overs. And on his 29th birthday.
Lewis set about destroying the birthday celebration with a boundary bolt in Neesham’s first and picked up 30 runs from one who shot 31 in total thanks to a long shot.
It consisted of three sixs and three fours and brought the Patriots to 59/1, after Devon Thomas had fallen early on Anderson Phillip.
But the Knight Riders are not in vain masters. They immediately put pressure on the Patriots and scored only 17 runs in the next four overs, while picking up the key-lobes of Laurie Evans and Lewis to regain control of the game.
Both men, like Thomas, fell on Phillip, whose tactic of bowling to Lewis was a wise one, which brought great rewards from a sliced ride that fed Kieron Pollard at the cover line.
That was Pollard’s 49th Hero CPL catch and a pretty direct one. His 50th came by the next and was anything but a sensational jump and a one-handed grip to rip the ball out of the sky and remove Mohammad Hafeez.
At 80/4, the Knight Riders seemed well prepared for the win, but Brathwaite had other ideas. His second ball disappeared in the stands, and from then on he dealt mainly with borders, summing up half a century in just 22 balls and keeping the required rate in check.
This proved so important that Emrit’s late strike brought the match into tie-break mode, in which the patriots were more comfortable winners.
Ali Khan, who was so impressive in his four regular overs, could not really impress his colleagues in the Super Over, and with Brathwaite in that mood, it proved to be oh so costly. The first ball was smoked six times at the bowler, three times later followed another ball on the square leg. The last ball was knocked past the bowler again, with interest in a one-bounce four.
The Knight Riders never came near as an answer. Darren Bravo pushed the second ball behind without having contact with the first one. When Pollard sent the fifth ball to the border, the game was over.
Much earlier that night, Simmons had completed his third half in a row after scoring 63 and 86 goals in his last two games against St. Lucia Zouks and Jamaica Tallawahs topping the 2019 Hero CPL Run Charts.
His quick-fire partnership of 49 in just four overs with Mark Deyal got the ball rolling. Deyal was the first attacker to clear the ropes twice in nine balls before taking a Brathwaite full throw on mid-on to leave for 21.
Colin Munro met Brathwaite in the Final of Power Play for a Six and a Four but was generally content to play the second fiddle against Simmons, who was in electric form.
He raised his fifty in the seventh innings-over and put Emrit over the border of the third for the second six and really did cut off from there.
Four other hero maxima were followed by eight balls from Hafeez and Alzarri Joseph, but when it turned out to be a hero-CPL century, Simmons was reversed. Surprised by a well-directed bouncer from Sheldon Cottrell, Simmons tried to get out of a pull shot, but could not do so on time and managed to lift the ball to point 10, which misses three digits.
The Patriots were then able to pull things back despite Pollard’s arrival in the middle. After conceding 136 goals in the first eleven overs, the Patriots only lost 20 in the next four.
Munro and Pollard were dismissed in quick succession and the innings regained momentum as Bravo and Neesham crossed the 200 barriers with an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 40 in the last three overs.
Neesham scored four wins with his 13-ball 22 *, while Bravo – who has scored more than six wins in his hero CPL career – remained loyal to two great hero maxima in his undefeated 24-of-12 victory.
However, it would prove to be insufficient, as the runner-up of the World Cup in Neesham again suffered from the disappointment of Super Over.
Much earlier that night, Simmons had completed his third half in a row after scoring 63 and 86 goals in his last two games against St. Lucia Zouks and Jamaica Tallawahs topping the 2019 Hero CPL Run Charts.
His quick-fire partnership of 49 in just four overs with Mark Deyal got the ball rolling. Deyal was the first attacker to clear the ropes twice in nine balls before taking a Brathwaite full throw on mid-on to leave for 21.
Colin Munro met Brathwaite in the Final of Power Play for a Six and a Four but was generally content to play the second fiddle against Simmons, who was in electric form.
He raised his fifty in the seventh innings-over and put Emrit over the border of the third for the second six and really did cut off from there.
Four other hero maxima were followed by eight balls from Hafeez and Alzarri Joseph, but when it turned out to be a hero-CPL century, Simmons was reversed. Surprised by a well-directed bouncer from Sheldon Cottrell, Simmons tried to get out of a pull shot, but could not do so on time and managed to lift the ball to point 10, which misses three digits.
The Patriots were then able to pull things back despite Pollard’s arrival in the middle. After conceding 136 goals in the first eleven overs, the Patriots only lost 20 in the next four.
Munro and Pollard were dismissed in quick succession and the innings regained momentum as Bravo and Neesham crossed the 200 barriers with an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 40 in the last three overs.
Neesham scored four wins with his 13-ball 22 *, while Bravo – who has scored more than six wins in his hero CPL career – remained loyal to two great hero maxima in his undefeated 24-of-12 victory.
However, it would prove to be insufficient, as the runner-up of the World Cup in Neesham again suffered from the disappointment of Super Over.
