Brian Lara Stadium

The Hurricanes began the day 271-6 off 90 overs with Karima Gore on 87 and James on 61.

Gore went on to make 93 off 198 balls including 13 fours and a six.

At lunch, they reached 338-7 off 116 overs with James on 96 and Jeremiah Louis on 18.

After the break, James carried on to bring up his maiden first-class ton before he was the second-to-last man to be dismissed, falling for 107 off 248 balls. Jeremiah Louis also made a valuable contribution with 45 as the Leewards declared their innings on 382-9 off 121.5 overs.

Shermon Lewis took 3-76 for the Volcanoes while new ball partner Preston McSween provided good support with 2-68.

At tea, the Windwards were 65-2 off 15 overs with in-form batsmen Kavem Hodge and captain Alick Athanaze at the crease on 33 and 21, respectively.

Athanaze and Hodge continued after tea, with the former bringing up his second hundred of the season, bringing his overall tally past 500 for the season. Hodge also brought up his third fifty of the season.

At Stumps, the Volcanoes were 206-2, trailing the Hurricanes by 176 runs with Athanaze and Hodge on 105 and 85, respectively.

The 31-year-old left-hand batsman stamped his authority on the Harpy Eagles bowlers with a solid unbeaten 48-ball 71, which included seven fours and two sixes. And almost like rubbing salt in the opponent’s wounds, Cariah returned to grab five wickets for a mere 34 runs in five overs to restrict Harpy Eagles to 176 in reply to Red Force’s 290.

Captain Darren Bravo continued his good form with another half-century knock of 51 off 60 balls, while Kjorn Ottley, stroked 52 of 57 deliveries in the Red Force’s daunting total.

Scores: Trinidad and Tobago Red Force 290-8 (50 overs); Guyana Harpy Eagles 176 all out (34 overs)

Sent in to bat, Red Force relished the conditions. Though they lost Evin Lewis (16) in the fifth over with the score at 27-1, wicketkeeper/batsman Joshua Da Silva (27) and Ottley, who had six boundaries and one six in his knock, added 64 for the second wicket.

Ottley was the first to go, caught by Gudakesh Motie off Veerasammy Permaul and Da Silva followed soon after, leaving Bravo and Jason Mohammed (26) to post another 58 runs for the fourth wicket.

Bravo, who had six fours in his innings went caught off Sherfane Rutherford and Mohammed stuck with Cariah in a 45-run fifth-wicket stand before the former was undone by Motie.

Still, Cariah remained aggressive and with small contributions from those in the lower order, saw Red Force to their match-winning total.

Romario Shepherd (2-43) and Sherfane Rutherford (2-55), were the pick of the Harpy Eagles bowling.

Guyana’s response started positively, but was never allowed to bear fruit, as Jayden Seales, Akeal Hosein, Sunil Narine and Terrance Hinds combined to remove Tagenarine Chanderpaul (19), Chandrapaul Hemraj (21), Tevin Imlach (26) and Shimron Hetmyer (24), with an even 100 runs on the board in the 17th over.

From there, it was left for Cariah, bowling his leg spin, to mop up the remaining batsmen of which only Rutherford (30) and Kevin Sinclair (20), offered any real resistance to the onslaught. Narine had the next best Red Force figures of 2-18.

Action in the tournament continues on Sunday with Windward Islands Volcanoes crossing swords with Combined Campuses and Colleges at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground.

Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo ensured Trinbago Knight Riders completed the first perfect season in franchise T20 history with an unbroken partnership of 138 off 88 balls, the highest of Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020 and the highest ever in a final. The St Lucia Zouks put up what seemed a competitive total, but ultimately a loss of 7/39 off the last 32 balls of their innings cost them dearly against this history-making Knight Riders squad. 

Rakheem Cornwall swept Akeal Hosein for four but was lucky to edge over DJ Bravo at slip. Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard gave the second over to Ali Khan, and Ali responded by flattening Cornwall’s middle stump. Andre Fletcher clipped fine for four, the Zouks thus closing the second over at 16/1.

 Mark Deyal slog-swept Hosein for two fours, and Fletcher was aggressive against Sikandar Raza, taking him over cover and long-on for Hero Maximums then cutting for four. Khary Pierre went for just five, but Fletcher twice smoked Ali through cover for four and the Zouks motored to 60/1 off the Powerplay.

 Deyal lofted Pierre over cover for four and launched Pollard for six, but struggled to combat Fawad Ahmed’s googly and edged to DJ Bravo at slip. Hosein returned with a tight over, and at halfway the Knight Riders had slowed the Zouks to 79/2.

Roston Chase clipped through midwicket for four early in Fawad’s second over, which went for 10, but Fletcher’s assault ended as he aimed Pollard down the ground but found only Darren Bravo at long-off. Najibullah Zadran slashed his first ball for four, and the over went for seven to leave the Zouks in need of a partnership at 79/3 off 12 overs.

While Chase slog-swept the last ball of Pierre’s over for a Hero Maximum, he and Mohammad Nabi fell within four balls, the former chipping a Pollard cutter to deep-mid on and the latter clubbing Fawad to long-off. Zouks captain Daren Sammy smashed his second ball for a Hero Maximum, and after 15 overs the Zouks were 123/5.

Despite a Najibullah four, Ali’s return over went for just six, and Sammy should have fallen to Hosein but Ali badly misjudged the catch. Najibullah flicked Hosein for a delightful Hero Maximum over cover, but Hosein recovered to dismiss Sammy LBW. After 17 overs, the Zouks were 138/6.

 DJ Bravo was unable to bowl, and so Pollard had to step up at the death and did so admirably, picking up two wickets with his off-cutter. First Javelle Glenn looped to backward point, then Najibullah failed to clear Raza at deep backward square off another cutter. Kesrick Williams was run out, Ali Khan bowled Zahir Khan with a perfect yorker, and the Knight Riders had bowled the Zouks out for a decent rather than dominant total.

 Simmons pulled Scott Kuggeleijn for four first ball of the chase, becoming Hero CPL’s all-time leading run-scorer in doing so. Webster swept Nabi for four but then top-edged off Chase, Williams taking a fine catch. After three overs, the Knight Riders were 14/1.

Tim Seifert got off the mark with a four off Kuggeleijn but fell edging behind next ball. Darren Bravo too got off the mark with a boundary, a glorious lofted Hero Maximum over long-on off Chase, and Simmons took fours straight, fine down the leg side and backward of point off Williams’ first over to close the Powerplay with the Knight Riders 40/2.

Chase and Nabi put the pressure on, going for just five between them, and Simmons and Bravo both struggled against Zahir. When Simmons did take on the big shot though he nailed it over the fence, and at halfway the Knight Riders were 59/2 and needed 96 more to win.

Sammy brought himself on and bowled five good deliveries, but Bravo smashed the sixth for a Hero Maximum, and Simmons pulled Williams for a six then cut him for four, becoming Hero CPL 2020’s leading run-scorer and bringing up his 50 off just 31 balls. Bravo though continued to struggle against Chase, who closed out a superb spell.

 After 13 overs, Bravo was just 23 off 32 balls, and the Knight Riders needed almost 10 an over, but he eased both of those equations somewhat with two Hero Maximums off Glenn. Williams’s third over went for nine thanks to two wides and a loose short ball, and the Knight Riders entered the last five overs needing 45 with eight wickets still in hand.

Kuggeleijn managed to go for just four off the 16th despite starting with a wide, but Simmons targeted Zahir, taking him for four off the first and six off the second. Bravo added two big Hero Maximums, the second bringing up his 50 off 45 balls. Suddenly, the Knight Riders needed just 18.

Simmons was not going to hang around now, walloping Kuggeleijn for a Hero Maximum over midwicket then clubbing him over cover and slicing him through third man for two fours. The winning runs came off an inside edge, but there was now no denying the Knight Riders’ domination of Hero CPL 2020.

All season, the Knight Riders had absorbed the loss of key personnel - Colin Munro fractured his hand, Ali Khan missed games, Narine had kidney stones removed and was unable to play the final with a knee injury. But perhaps the 12th and final win is the greatest measure of how great a squad Pollard and Brendon McCullum have built - victory was achieved two wickets down, with 11 balls to spare, without DJ Bravo bowling or Pollard batting. The Knight Riders had come together in the bubble and emerged from it to achieve something truly monumental.

Summary (Trinbago Knight Riders 157/2 (Simmons 84*, DM Bravo 58*; Chase 1/13, Kuggeleijn 1/30) beat St Lucia Zouks 154 all out (Fletcher 39, Deyal 29, Najibullah 24, Chase 22; Pollard 4/30, Fawad 2/22, Ali Khan 2/25, Hosein 1/26) by 8 wickets)

The Knight Riders crushed the inconsistent Jamaica Tallawahs by nine wickets in Tuesday’s semi-final match to claim a spot in the final and a shot at their fourth Hero CPL title.

Asked at a pre-final press conference on Wednesday whether winning 11 of 11, brings pressure or confidence, the TKR captain was unequivocal.

“Confidence, there is always pressure. Before you play the first game there is pressure, throughout the tournament, there is pressure as well,” he said.

“At the end of it, I’ve played in finals and it’s just another game because you have nothing to lose.

Four other teams would have liked to be in the position both teams are in…so it’s to go out and play good consistent cricket and at the end of the day the result will speak for itself.”

He believes TKR holds an advantage over St Lucia Zouks in that its players have been there before.

“One good thing is that we have guys who would have played in finals before, so we would be able to settle nerves over the ones who these things are new to,” he said.

He credits a change of attitude for the success the team has had so far this season, making adjustments from lessons learned last season when they were eliminated by eventual champions Barbados Tridents.

“We look forward to it, (the finals). Last year we were pretty disappointed to lose in the semi-finals and we made some changes and decided to come with a different sort of mentality this year and it has shown on the cricket field so it’s just a matter to jump the last hurdle and hopefully be four-time champions.”

TKR led by Lendl Simmons’ unbeaten 84 and Darren Bravo 58 not out steered their team to an emphatic eight-wicket win over the first-time finalist St Lucia Zouks.

Chasing 155 for victory, TKR lost two early wickets but Simmons and Bravo mounted a match-winning partnership of 138 that propelled the team to their 12^th win from 12 matches with 11 balls to spare.

TKR thus became the first team in CPL history to go undefeated for an entire season.

Pollard, who was named Hero of the Tournament, for his 204 runs and eight wickets, said the team used the disappointments of last season as fuel this season’s unprecedented success.

“Great, great feeling. We have worked really, really hard. When we sat in the dressing room last year, you could have seen the disappointment (after losing in the semi-finals),” he said.

“We had rigorous conversations and the mentality the guys came through even before the camp. This was destined to happen. They always wanted to improve every game.”

In the final, TKR was without their main strike bowler Sunil Narine - ruled out because of injury.

However, Pollard led by example, taking 4 for 30, a performance that went a long way in restricting the Zouks to 154 all out off 19.1 overs after they had got off to a strong start reaching 77 for 2 in the ninth over.

However, Pollard believes winning the title was a “total team effort.”

“We knew they (Zouks) were going to come hard, they had a lot of confidence from the semi-final, but that's where we used our experience. We knew in the team Bravo wasn't going to bowl but just having him in the field was a boost,” the winning captain said.

Throughout the tournament, pitch conditions were a concern. The surfaces were mostly spinner friendly but they also offered assistance to the faster bowlers. Meanwhile, many batsmen and by extension, teams struggled for runs.

However, Pollard said that they never allowed the conditions to determine how TKR played their cricket.

“We said we're not going to play the pitch or the conditions, we're going to play the round, white ball,” he said.

“We knew that each time we set up the game, we will finish well. We had the power in our line-up. Each and everyone who came in did their role. “The guys believed in what we wanted to achieve. It would have been brilliant if the fans were here but we know what's going on (the pandemic). We hope we entertained each and everyone.”

He likens the teams to two biblical characters.

“I see them as Goliath,” said Sammy while addressing the media during a pre-final press conference on Wednesday.

“They are the Goliath of the tournament, but like I said to my men, don’t forget that David defeated Goliath.

“That’s the confidence we have as a team. Everybody knows that from the time the tournament started we said whoever wins this tournament has to go through TKR. That was a given. If you want to win this tournament you have got to beat TKR, and that is what is left to do to win this cup.”

Sammy, who led the West Indies to two ICCT20 World Cups, said the team is confident and united in its vision regarding what is to unfold at the Brian Lara Stadium on Thursday morning.

“They (TKR) have played some exciting, dominant brand of cricket but we have that silent confidence in our team that we play as a unit,” he said.

“They play well as a unit by dominance but we play as a unit by pulling together and believing in ourselves. I think is a very good matchup for tomorrow, and hopefully in this COVID time, we will bring out the entertainment that will ease the stress of the Caribbean people.”

The Zouks got to the final in a dominant win over five-time finalists Guyana Amazon Warriors. The Zouks bowled the Warriors out for just 55, the second-lowest score in CPL history and then achieved their target without losing a wicket.

Sammy led the team to six wins and four losses during the preliminary round.

The Zouks, first-time finalists posted a competitive score of 154 off 19.1 overs, thanks to Andre Fletcher’s top score of 39 and scores of 29 from Mark Deyal, 24 from Roston Chase, and 24 from Najibullah Zadran.

However, the total was not nearly enough as TKR smashed their way to victory with 11 balls to spare.

Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo posted an unbroken third-wicket partnership of 138 to lead their side to their fourth CPL title.

Sammy, in his post-match comments, lamented that the Zouks did not get more runs after being in a strong position of 77 for 2 in the ninth over of their innings.

“We thought we were about 15-20 runs short from the start we had. Plus, we didn't complete our batting innings and when you play against a side like TKR you have to make sure you at least make full use of your overs. But we still felt we had enough when we put them under pressure in the first six overs,” he said.

“But these guys, Bravo and Simmons, have played so much together; they absorbed the pressure and put it back on us.”

Despite the outcome, Sammy said the Zouks fought bravely and put in a solid shift against the now four-time champions.

“I think we really pushed TKR in all three games we played against them in the tournament and I'm really proud of that,” he said.

“The message from the last few days is we never quit. The whole nation was behind us. We're very disappointed but we have shown that if we play a brand of cricket, we'll get results. I think we've put our hands up this tournament.”

The former West Indies captain said, however, that there were other positives to take from the final.

“Of course when you lose a final you think about things you could have done differently. Maybe I should have been more sure about the decision I wanted to take towards the end. But we've been resilient, we showed commitment and we played a brand of cricket that shows you don't need superstars. For eight years we have been trying to get to the final and we got here,” he said.

“Congratulations to Kieron Pollard and his team and I really want to thank CPL to have cricket in this time. We created an opportunity in the Caribbean for people to smile. And thanks to my team for the way they have turned up.”