RBCPL24: Dre Russ turns in ‘Champion’ performance as TKR edge GAW

They came in their numbers on Wednesday to see the four-time champions, Trinbago Knight Riders, against the defending champions, Guyana Amazon Warriors. And to see Dwayne Bravo, the retiring ‘Champion’, do his thing one last time at the Queen’s Park Oval.

What they saw, on a far-from-dry field that caused frequent changes of the ball throughout the evening, was a championship match of two innings that each ended with a slugfest.

And if in the end it was Trinbago Knights Riders who emerged with a five-wicket win in Match 19 of the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL), it was almost entirely due to the superior championship pedigree of  Andre ‘Dre Russ’ Russell.

“I know I can hit sixes and that Tim David is a six-hitter as well,” Man-of-the-Match Russell (36*, 15, 4×6, 1×4) said after the game, acknowledging the important role played by his partner. “Told him that we had 24 balls, and we had to hit eight sixes.”

They didn’t. They hit only six. In the last four overs. And their 60-run sixth-wicket partnership moved TKR from 89 for 5 to 149 for 5, one more than GAW’s 148 for 7.

Russell smacked three sixes off 31-yr-old Australia-born England-based leg-spinner Nathan Sowter in over #17 to make the deficit 12. And David smoked Keemo Paul’s first two balls over the fence, his only two sixes, to end the game with an exclamation mark.

The TKR innings had begun well despite Sunil Narine being bowled neck and crop by a vicious Moeen Ali off-spinner in only the third over. New arrival Sowter next, in over #9, got Keacy Carty with a googly and Shaqkere Parris (29, 29b, 2×6, 2×4) caught on the boundary trying for his third six.

But neither of the potentially destructive pair of Nicholas Pooran and Kieron Pollard could get on top on the day.

So 42 for 2 in the powerplay became 89 for 5 when Pooran was dismissed, missing a Paul full toss to be adjudged LBW by DRS. Three overs earlier, Shamar Joseph had already bowled Pollard with an excellent off-cutter, the West Indies seamer’s first CPL wicket.

Earlier, the Warriors, invited to bat first, only got as far as they did owing almost entirely to a 72-run eighth-wicket partnership between Romario Shepherd (51, 24b, 4×6, 3×4) and Dwaine Pretorius (21, 25b, 2×4).

The pair came together at the end of the 12th over when the wily Sunil Narine (4-0-24-2) bowled Gudakesh Motie through the gate with an arm-ball to leave GAW perilously perched on 76 for 7.

That made the mystery spinner’s CPL tally 121, second only to Bravo, who had dismissed Paul in his second over to make his CPL haul 129.

Slowly, chirrup chirrup, the two big men progressed to the end of the 18th, Narine’s last. Both Akeal Hosein (4-0-20-1) and Waqar Salamkheil (4-0-19-2) were now also bowled out.

The left-arm orthodox bowler hit opener Kevin Sinclair’s off stump in the third over—provoking a batsman’s review!—and the wrist-spinner claimed Shimron Hetmyer and Tim Robinson in his second over.

At 118 for 7 with 12 balls left, it was time for action. Big man ting, as the TV sometimes reminds viewers.

DJB might have been the honoree on the night but that’s a matter for off the field. Which is where Shepherd deposited him twice in the penultimate over, which cost 19. And Russell’s relatively tight final over yielded only 11, with only two fours.

So a defensible 148 was on the board and a fighting chance in what Warriors acting captain Shai Hope called “always a big, big, big match”.

He said he thought they had “left ourselves a few runs short with the bat” but had done well “to take the game to the last over.”

Without Shepherd’s innings, he added: “we’d have been way too short”. “When he’s striking it well, he’s tough to stop.”

“We really fought well,” Hope commented. “Just crucial moments of the game.”

He was not referring to over #9 of his team’s innings, when Hetmyer holed out to Hosein on the midwicket boundary. And the 40-year-old Bravo leapt high at slip to hold on to an edge from Robinson (34, 28b, 2×6, 4×4), who, by the end of over #7, had scored 66.6% of the team’s 48 runs.

One crucial moment Hope clearly had in mind came at 91 for 5 in over #16 when Junior Sinclair dropped Russell on the midwicket boundary. That might have altered the eventual outcome, despite Hosein and Terrence Hinds,  no mugs with the bat, being next up in the order.

“Don’t want to pinpoint fielding and bowling effort,” Hope said. “We had a missed chance but that’s cricket.”

Nor did he want to highlight the moment he decided to go with Paul for both overs #18 and 20 instead of Moeen, who had conceded just five runs and still had two overs left.

Perhaps Russell’s manhandling of Sowter had influenced his decision to prefer seam. But David smacked Paul’s first two balls over the fence, his only two sixes, to end the game with an exclamation mark.

Pollard’s assessment was that the game “was played in thirds.”

“The powerplay was decent for both teams,” he summed it up accurately. “We both lost wickets in the middle overs. And then we both did well in the back end.”

A very emotional Bravo called the victory “a great send-off”. An equally emotional Russell said, “This one is for DJ Bravo,” who has “helped me […] to out-think the batter, be a smart bowler” and “deserved that win tonight”.

Pollard paid tribute to his “best friend” who is “one of our local icons and heroes”. He thanked him “for what he has done for Trinidad cricket and West Indies cricket” and added that “getting the win for him is special”.

Less emotional and more clear-eyed than the man of the moment and the Man of the Match, though, he did not lose sight of the fact that the win was already history. Partying, he hinted, might not be appropriate.

TKR, now second on the table with eight points, are in action again on Thursday at the same venue. They take on the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, who beat them by six runs in the first leg in Match 8.

Focusing on the crowd, the oh-so-vital 12th man, the skipper talked about the “fantastic atmosphere” and seeing “a sea of red from 5 ‘o’ clock in the afternoon”.

“We need,” the TKR skipper ended, “to see that before tomorrow’s game.”

Summarised scores

Toss: Trinbago Knight Riders

Guyana Amazon Warriors: 148 for 7 (20 overs) Romario Shepherd 51*, Tim Robinson 34, Dwaine Pretorius 21; Waqar Salamkheil 2/19, Sunil Narine 2/24

Trinbago Knight Riders: 149 for 5 (19.2 overs) Andre Russell 36*, Tim David 31*, Shaqkele Parris 29; Nathan Sowter 2/37

Man-of-the-Match: Andre Russell

Result: Trinbago Knight Riders win by 5 wickets

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Earl Best

Earl Best taught cricket, French, football and Spanish at QRC for many years and has written consistently for the Tapia and the Trinidad and Tobago Review since the 1970’s.
He is also a former sports editor at the Trinidad Guardian and the Trinidad Express and is now a senior lecturer in Journalism at COSTAATT.