Trinbago Knight Riders sealed a third Caribbean Premier League title with a commanding eight-wicket victory over Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Brian Lara Academy.
Fittingly, it was Colin Munro who hit the winning runs having become the first batsman both to pass 500 runs and score six half-centuries in a single CPL season. His brutal 68 from 39 balls eased his team past the target of 148. Munro’s heroics came after fellow New Zealander Brendon McCullum had got the run-chase off to a flying start with 39 off 24.
Munro brought up his latest 50 from just 33 balls with successive sixes off Rayad Emrit. It was the bowlers, though, who had done most of the heavy lifting for the Knight Riders. The Warriors were left to rue a dramatic batting collapse in the second half of their innings.
All the Knight Riders bowlers played their part in restricting the Warriors to 147/9. Ali Khan made the perfect start, ripping out Cameron Delport’s off stump with the first ball of the night. He finished with 1/20 from four overs to end a fine CPL campaign with 16 wickets to his name.
One man who had an even better season, though, is Fawad Ahmed, who grabbed his 22nd and perhaps most significant wicket when he removed Shimron Hetmyer.
Luke Ronchi was holding the innings together but his departure for a well-made 44 from 35, chipping Khary Pierre to deep cover, triggered a collapse from 79/2 to 109/8.
At 109/8 the Warriors were sinking without a trace, but Shepherd, Emrit and Imran Tahir scrambled 39 from the last four overs to give themselves something to bowl at. It never really looked like being enough, though, with the Warriors only managing to dismiss McCullum, caught at cover off Green. Ramdin perished for 24 when he clattered his own stumps, having gone too deep in his crease against Shepherd.
Darren Bravo was forced to retire hurt after seeming to injure a hamstring completing a single, but that was the only real negative on another glorious night for the Knight Riders.
