RBCPL24: Powell’s Royals see light at end of the tunnel; after controversial TKR KO

For roughly two hours, cricket fanatics in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean shared memes and amused themselves as the ground staff and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) organisers hurriedly tried to address the outage of two lighting towers at National Stadium in Providence, Guyana on Tuesday night.

At approximately 11.35pm, the diehard supporters of four-time CPL champions TKR ceased all meme-sharing as they demanded an immediate inquest into what they deemed a great injustice.

After the most cruel of losses, TKR fans cried sabotage and even blamed a Guyanese buck as Barbados Royals’ David ‘Killer’ Miller put a vicious end to their season.

He struck a couple of telling blows off Terrance Hinds in a brief run chase to see his team home with nine wickets to spare via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) Method.

The occasion was the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League Eliminator match and Rovman Powell’s Royals had been set a target of 60 runs from just five overs after the outage.

It truncated TKRs innings abruptly in the final over when a thumping Andre Russell maximum was immediately followed by worrying darkness in Providence.

TKR had progressed to 168 for three after 19.1 overs, and their star bat Nicholas Pooran seemed to be blazing his way to a second consecutive CPL 100—stylishly amassing an unbeaten 91 off 60 balls with six fours and five sixes.

Often the engineer of his own demise with his shot-making and overexuberance in seeking to dominate a favourable match-up, the left-handed Pooran didn’t put a foot wrong as he effortlessly put TKR on his back.

Last week, skipper Kieron Pollard insisted TKR weren’t a one-man team but Pooran’s knock was out of this world and, respectfully, a notch above the efforts of Sunil Narine (2), Jason Roy (25 off 17 balls), Pollard (17 off 19) and Russell (20* off 18).

Barely one week ago, Pooran’s consistency was being questioned by a Trinidadian journalist as TKR prepared to face the Royals in their last home game at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on 27 September.

In the second meeting with the Royals in five days, Pooran looked irresistible and became the first batsman to get to the 500-mark this season. Challenged by coach Phil Simmons to break Colin Munro’s CPL record tally of 567 from the 2018 season, Pooran was unstoppable.

Or so it seemed.

The players were ushered off the field around 9pm. And what originally looked like a temporary pause turned into a very anxious and uncomfortable wait as CPL CEO Pete Russell, operations director Michael Hall and the match officials had feverish discussions with both captains.

The last time match officials were required for an emergency meeting in the CPL, neither the result of the match or the controversial decision went in TKR’s favour.

At the Queen’s Park Oval in Match 19 of the 2024 season, Antigua and Barbuda Falcons allrounder Imad Wasim was not out, out and then not out again as the umpires made a mess of an LBW decision.

This time, “Polly” hoped for a better outcome for his troops.

For television viewers, it took about 55 minutes before commentator Simon Doull provided an update, reporting that one of the two artificial lighting towers was back up and running. The crew, he said, was working expeditiously to restore the other tower to facilitate a restart.

More importantly, Doull confirmed 10.52pm as the cut-off point for a continuation of the game, which would be reduced to a five-over affair for the chasing team.

As the minutes ticked by, the likelihood of a restart seemed as dim as the Providence outfield. The live feed offered little by way of information for the viewers and, in the interim, the broadcast featured replays of previous CPL matches from the current season.

As the spectators waited with bated breath, those with TKR red in their hearts started to feel at ease as they realised an abandonment of the Eliminator would see their team progressing to Friday’s second qualifier.

TKR and Barbados finished third and fourth on the league table respectively and the Knight Riders looked set to call game with a royal flush.

TKR fans were already marking their calendar for a meeting with the Guyana Amazon Warriors or Faf du Plessis’ Saint Lucia Kings when news trickled through that the game would continue.

From Icacos in south Trinidad to Charlotteville in the north of Tobago, a collective royal steups could be heard.

At 10.55pm, confirmation came from CPL’s head of PR and Communications: “11:01[pm] restart. Five-over chase. Target is 60.”

Editors were forced to change their headlines which presumably read: Pooran dims Royals’ light in Providence; Lights out; Royals sent packing in Eliminator; Pooran shines bright but Barbados left in the dark.

The general mood of the TKR fan base quickly shifted. And though they had had no answer for “Nicky P”, Barbados were now in the ascendancy.

Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Alick Athanaze, Rovman Powell and Kadeem Alleyne. With a top-order like that, 12 runs per over for five overs isn’t beyond reach—even if you have to contend with the mystery of Sunil Narine, Waqar Salamkheil and the left-arm orthodox guile of Akeal Hosein.

“I think it’s a case of us getting lucky tonight to be honest,” Powell said at the post-match presentation. “At one point, we thought we were out of the competition when the lights started giving problems.

“But we knew once the lights came back at a certain time, it was our game to lose. Five overs, 60 runs. That’s not very difficult.”

For TKR, two was a decisive number. Two bowlers could bowl two overs apiece, with the power play reduced to the first two overs.

Returning to the squad after a four-match absence, Narine was given the ball for the first over to nobody’s great surprise. But where would Pollard turn for the other three overs?

Struck for a four by de Kock, Narine struck gold for TKR when he castled the dangerous South African batsman with the third ball of his first over.

The dismissal of one Proteas left-hander paved the way for another to come in, and “Killer” Miller was taking no prisoners.

“You have no other options. Five overs to go and you need 60,” Miller said, after collecting his Man-of-the-Match award for a brutal 50 off 17 balls. “You’ve got 11 batsmen and you’ve got to try and use every single ball you got.

“It worked out well tonight and I’m very stoked […] I had to go from ball one.”

Thirteen runs came off Narine’s first over, with Miller showing his clear intent with a six over long-on off the second ball he faced.

Polly looked worried. With good reason.

For the second over, Pollard chose the athletic Chris Jordan, whose CV includes death bowler specialist. Jordan nailed his first two yorkers and appeared to land a big blow when he pouched a skier off Powell’s bat.

TKR’s celebrations were cut short as DRS showed that Jordan committed the cardinal sin by overstepping the crease. No- ball!

Miller couldn’t connect with the free-hit but Powell closed the over with a sweet flick for six as the Royals got another 13 in the over.

From there, it was all about Miller. He thumped Narine for another six off the first ball of the third over and, critically, kept the strike for the next over.

Again, Pollard put his trust in the Barbados-born Jordan.

Opting to stick with his yorker length, Jordan was picked off by a rampant Miller, who took 17 from the over, pushing the Royals score to 52.

For the last over, Pollard turned to Terrance Hinds, who had had the golden arm with three for 17 two nights before against the Warriors.

With just eight needed, Miller, in a no-nonsense mood, delivered the knockout blow. The South African drilled a pair of sixes over mid-wicket and extra-cover to clinch victory with four balls to spare.

But spare a thought for TKR. On a night where they looked destined to celebrate another sterling century from Nicky P, a faulty lighting system and a powerful South African finisher killed off their 2024 CPL dreams.

Though many TKR fans were left crestfallen and pointed to a greater conspiracy at play, their leader took the defeat on the chin.

“If rain fell or something like that, it would have been the same sort of instance where you have to gear up and be prepared to play,” Pollard said. “At the end of it, once the lights were on, […] we were always ready and willing to play within the rules and regulations of the game.

“It was always going to be difficult for Barbados to chase our initial score. Certain things happened that we have no control over.

“You can control what you can control and what you can’t control, you gotta run with it.”

With this new-found luck, the Royals who finished the league phase with four straight losses, will be hoping to run all the way to a third CPL title.