The Texas Super Kings secured a resounding 69-run win over the Los Angeles Knight Riders to kick off the inaugural season of Major League Cricket in the United States.

The Knight Riders, led by Captain, Sunil Narine and including the likes of Andre Russell and Rilee Rossouw, won the toss and elected to field first at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Thursday.

The Super Kings, including Dwayne Bravo, posted 181-6 from their 20 overs thanks to half-centuries from David Miller and Devon Conway.

Miller blasted a 42-ball 61 including two fours and four sixes while, earlier, Conway hit 55 off 37 balls including seven fours and a six at the top of the order.

Pacers Lockie Ferguson and Ali Khan each took a pair of wickets for the Knight Riders.

The Super Kings then used early wickets and disciplined bowling to restrict the Knight Riders to 112 all out in just 14 overs in their reply.

The Knight Riders lost five wickets within the first six overs and were never able to recover to make the game competitive.

Only Andre Russell offered some resistance for the Knight Riders with an aggressive 55 off 34 balls including seven fours and three big sixes.

Jaskaran Malhotra (22) and Narine (15) were the only other batsmen to reach double figures as leg-spinner Mohammad Mohsin backed up some good bowling at the top from the pacers with 4-8 from three overs.

Earlier, Rusty Theron took 2-16 and Gerald Coetzee took 2-22 in four overs between them. Dwayne Bravo also chipped in with 1-10 from his two overs.

 

The Vitality Blast match between Surrey and Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff last Wednesday was a historic one for West Indian off-spinner, Sunil Narine.

While he ended up with relatively pedestrian figures of 1-34 off his four overs to help Surrey defend a mammoth 237, his dismissal of South African Colin Ingram for 11 was extremely significant.

With that dismissal, the 35-year-old Trinidadian became only the third man in history to reach 500 wickets in T20s, joining Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, who has 555 and fellow Trinidadian, Dwayne Bravo, who leads the way by a mile with 615.

Narine made his T20 debut all the way back in 2011 when he represented Trinidad & Tobago against Hampshire in the Caribbean T20 at the Kensington Oval and has since gone on to represent a number of franchises in leagues across the globe, most notably helping the Kolkata Knight Riders to a pair of IPL titles in 2012 and 2014, taking over 20 wickets in each season.

In Surrey’s next game, which they also won, Narine was back to his best with figures of 3-12 in 2.5 overs.

In total, Narine has taken 503 wickets in 461 matches at an average of 21.01 including 12 four-wicket hauls and one five-wicket haul.

For the West Indies, Narine has taken 52 wickets in 51 matches at 21.25. His last T20 for the West Indies came against India at Providence in 2019.

 

Veteran players Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine are among six players retained by the four-time CPL champions, Trinbago Knight Riders ahead of the 2023 season scheduled to begin in August.

TKR have also confirmed the retention of Andre Russell, Nicholas Pooran, Akeal Hosein and Jayden Seales.

The Knight Riders have also secured the services of Dwayne Bravo who will be returning to the franchise from the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. They will also have Mark Deyal as part of their setup in 2023 with the batter joining the Knight Riders from the Saint Lucia Kings.

The decision to retain the aforementioned players is good news for Head Coach Phil Simmons.

“We are very happy to be able to retain most of the Caribbean players from last year’s TKR squad. The experience of Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Nicholas Pooran coupled with Dwayne Bravo’s return gives our squad a very strong core,” the former West Indies head coach declared.

“In youngsters like Akeal Hosein, Jayden Seales, and Mark Deyal, we have some of the best young talent from Trinidad representing TKR.

“We’re looking forward to the remaining international signings, and I am excited by the player draft coming up soon to complete the roster and put together a strong squad for CPL 2023.”

The overseas players and draft picks will be announced during the Republic Bank CPL draft show which will be broadcast at the end of June. 

The tournament gets underway on 16 August with the final taking place on 24 September. There will be matches in Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago.

 

Johnson Charles of the St Lucia Kings and Kyle Mayers of the Barbados Royals were among the 12-man 2022 Hero CPL Team of the Tournament released on Friday. Noticeably absent, however, is Brandon King of the Jamaica Tallawahs, who is the second highest run-scorer in the tournament and one of only three men who have scored hundreds in this year’s tournament.

The team that was picked by the Hero CPL commentary team – Ian Bishop, Samuel Badree, Daren Ganga, Simon Doull and Danny Morrison, also includes South Africa’s Faf Du Plessis, who captained the Kings and Tallawahs’ captain Rovman Powell.

 In fact, players from the Kings and Tallawahs dominated the selection with only Sunil  Narine of four-time champions Trinbago Knight Riders among the selectees while other than Mayers, only Jason Holder was selected among the 11 from the Barbados Royals.

 However, the selection panel picked the Royals’ Ramon Simmonds as the 12th man as a result of his impressive performances throughout the tournament.

 Simmonds is one of the 12 emerging players in the Hero CPL squads and has been an important part of the Barbados Royals team in 2022. 

 The 2022 Hero CPL Team of the Tournament: Johnson Charles (Saint Lucia Kings), Kyle Mayers (Barbados Royals), Faf Du Plessis (Saint Lucia Kings), Rovman Powell (Jamaica Tallawahs), Raymon Reifer (Jamaica Tallawahs), Imad Wasim (Jamaica Tallawahs), Jason Holder (Barbados Royals), David Wiese (Saint Lucia Kings), Alzarri Joseph (Saint Lucia Kings), Mohammad Amir (Jamaica Tallawahs) Sunil Narine (Trinbago Knight Riders) and 12th man – Ramon Simmonds (Barbados Royals).

Saint Lucia Kings made it three wins on the spin in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a thrilling one-run victory over the Trinbago Knight Riders on Sunday night.

The Knight Riders won the toss and opted to field first and that decision appeared to have backfired when Johnson Charles’ half-century got the Kings off to a lightning start.

Although the Knight Riders pegged the Kings back in the middle overs a devastating 33 off 14 balls from David Wiese ensured the Knight Riders were set a very difficult 148 to win.

 The Knight Riders’ task became even more difficult when they lost three early wickets inside the PowerPlay including that of Nicholas Pooran for a duck. 

 They never really recovered from that and left themselves too much ground to make up in the back end resulting in the narrow defeat.

 The Kings had got off to a flier in the PowerPlay with the tournament’s top scorer Charles hitting another barnstorming fifty. His partnership with Niroshan Dickwella added 59 runs before Ravi Rampaul carried on his good form by removing the latter.

 When Rampaul removed the set Charles it led to a squeeze on the Kings scorecard as 82-3 quickly became 117-5.

 However, David Wiese was able to produce an excellent counter-attacking innings at the death to help the Kings post a challenging 147.

 The Knight Riders' response saw their top order fail again as Leonardo Julien, Colin Munro and Nicholas Pooran all fell inside the powerplay to Roston Chase.

 That left the middle and lower order too much to do and despite a late salvo by Andre Russell in the final over of the game, it was too little too late.

 The two sides swap places in the table following the results and both will now head to Guyana with all to play for in the race for the playoffs. 

Scores: Saint Lucia Kings 147-6 (Charles 54, Wiese 33; Rampaul 2-10, Narine 2-31) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 146-6 (Seifert 44, Pollard 34; Chase 3-17, Joseph 2-26) by 1 run.

Trinbago Knight Riders ended their three-game losing streak and reignited their Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign with an exciting win against the Guyana Amazon Warriors Wednesday night.

 The Amazon Warriors won the toss and opted to field first and they produced a disciplined performance with the ball that kept the Knight Riders in check throughout. 

Led by Tabraiz Shamsi’s 4-36, wickets were taken at regular intervals to ensure that no batter ever felt comfortable at the crease as the Knight Riders reached 150-8.

 Needing 151 to win the Amazon Warriors got off to the worst possible start losing Paul Sterling for a duck and three wickets in total in the power play.

Shimron Hetmyer and Colin Ingram briefly threatened to take the game away from the Knight Riders but when Andre Russell removed Hetmyer the collapse began and the remaining Amazon Warriors batters fell for just 26 runs.

Earlier on the Knight Riders had constructed their best total of the Hero CPL campaign courtesy of a well-compiled 42 from Colin Munro. Overcoming the early loss of Tion Webster and Nicholas Pooran, Munro combined with Tim Siefert to compile a 51-run partnership that set a foundation for some late order risk taking.

 Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard and Ravi Rampaul hit a combined five sixes to help the Knight Riders set a total of 150 runs that always appeared as if it would be tricky to chase.

 This proved to be the case in the Amazon Warrior reply. No batter was able to face more than 20 deliveries despite reaching 81-4 in the 10th over. The Amazon Warriors lost their remaining six wickets for 43 runs to succumb to a heavy defeat.

 The returning Akeal Hosein proved to be crucial in the Knight Riders' bowling attack taking 3-36 and he was ably supported by the parsimonious Andre Russell (3-16) and Sunil Narine (2-9).

 Scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 150-8 (Munro 42, Seifert 27; Shamsi 4-36, Shepherd 3-22) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 124 all out (Hemraj 28, Hetmyer 20; Russell 3-16, Hosein 3-36) by 26 runs 

Barbados Royals kept their unbeaten run intact as they made it six wins from six in Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) following victory over the Trinbago Knight Riders on Tuesday night.

The Royals won the toss and opted to field first and took full advantage of that decision with their spinners Rahkeem Cornwall and Mujeeb Ur Rahman causing havoc upfront.

Four wickets fell in the first seven overs and the Knight Riders struggled to get back into the game. 

Nicholas Pooran put up a valiant fight with a battling half-century but the 132 they posted was short of a competitive total. 

If there were any lingering doubts in the Royals' minds about chasing the total in front of a raucous Queens Park Oval, Kyle Mayers didn’t read the script. He hit a blistering 79 to stun the home crowd and lead the Royals to a comfortable win.

The Queens Park Oval was silenced inside the PowerPlay as the Royals took out the Knight Riders' top order.

 Cornwall and the debuting Mujeeb Ur Rahman dismissed Tion Webster, Colin Munro and Tim Seifert in quick succession to leave Nicholas Pooran and Kieron Pollard with a major rescue job on their hands.

 When Pollard fell to Ur Rahman straight after the PowerPlay all looked lost for the Knight Riders but Pooran and Sunil Narine put together a fine rebuilding partnership to leave the home team well set at 100-4 with five overs to go.

 However, when Obed McCoy bowled Pooran for a well-constructed 52 off 44 balls, that signalled the end of the Knight Riders' fight back. The remaining batters stuttered their way to a total of 132 which was not enough against the irresistible Barbados Royals.

 If the Knight Riders were going to have a chance then a lot depended on taking wickets in the PowerPlay, Daryn Dupavillon provided the early joy clean bowling Cornwall for 1.

 But that was to be as good as it got as the Hero CPL leading run scorer, Kyle Mayers, hit a stunning 79 from 35 balls to guide the Royals to the edge of victory. 

 Corbin Bosch and Quinton De Kock saw out the remaining runs with minimum fuss to ensure the Royals remain unbeaten. 

Scores: Barbados Royals 136-2 (Mayers 79, Bosch 33*; Dupavillon 2-30) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 132 (Pooran 52, Narine 30; Ur Rahman 3-17, Cornwall 2-27) by 8 wickets

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots will face the Trinbago Knight Riders in the final of the inaugural 6IXTY Men’s competition following victories over the Jamaica Tallawahs and Barbados Royals, respectively at Warner Park in St Kitts on Sunday.

Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Nicholas Pooran are the latest big names from the Caribbean to sign up for the UAE's International League T20 (ILT20).

They join the likes of Andre Fletcher, Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Rovman Powell, Akeal Hosein, Raymon Reifer, Sherfane Rutherford, Ravi Rampaul, Kennar Lewis and Dominic Drakes as West Indians participating in the inaugural edition of the tournament.

Other big names participating include England's Moeen Ali and Alex Hales as well as Sri Lankan leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga.

The ILT20 is set to begin in January next year in the UAE and is competing with South Africa's T20 League for players. There will be six franchises consisting of 18 players each.

The 2023 edition of the ILT20 will have 34 matches. All the teams will play each other twice, before four playoffs, including the final, spread across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

West Indies coach Phil Simmons insists the team will have to make do with the players that are available as the unit continues to suffer the absence of a few high-profile players.

Chief among that group is Sunil Narine, who was once ranked as the world’s number one spinner and a regular feature in T20 leagues around the world.  Narine has not appeared in a match for the team since 2019.  Also missing are the likes of big-hitter Andre Russell and Evin Lewis who have not featured for the team since last year’s T20 World Cup.  Russell has been unavailable while Lewis has not taken the required fitness tests to be included in the team selections.

All three players have, however, continued to take part in the lucrative T20 leagues around the world, despite not playing for the regional team since last year's World cup debacle.  Simmons admits that not having all the players the team would love to have available is not the ideal scenario but expects the cricketers to be motivated to play for the West Indies.

“I’ve made it a point of duty, anywhere that I’ve gone, I don’t think you should be begging people to play for their country,” Simmons told members of the media on Tuesday.

“I think if you want to represent the West Indies, you make yourself available for West Indies cricket,” he added.

“Life has changed in that people have the opportunity to go to different places, if they pick that over the West Indies then that’s how it is, but it doesn’t make sense me going out there and begging you to play for the West Indies because I don’t know if you will come with as strong a heart as I want you to have.”

The West Indies are currently trailing New Zealand 1-0 in the ongoing T20 series.

 

An excellent all-round display from Trinidadian Sunil Narine propelled Surrey to a seven-wicket win over Middlesex in their Vitality Blast South Group fixture at the Oval on Friday.

Surrey won the toss and elected to field first, restricting Middlesex to 155-8 off their 20 overs.

Luke Hollman (31), captain Stephen Eskinazi (25), and wicketkeeper/batsman John Simpson (25) were the chief scorers against Narine (2-27 off four overs) and Barbados-born England all-rounder Chris Jordan (2-27 off four overs).

Narine then top-scored with 51 not out off just 29 balls, including two fours and four sixes, while engaging in a match-winning 73-run fourth-wicket partnership with England test batsman Ollie Pope (37 not out).

Opener Will Jacks earlier smashed a 20-ball 43 for Surrey who easily reached 158-3 off just 15.1 overs to secure victory.

Surrey, also the team of former West Indies white-ball captain Kieron Pollard, now lead the South Group with 15 points from eight games after seven wins and one no result.

 

 

West Indies T20I and ODI captain Kieron Pollard was selected by the London Spirit with the first pick in the draft for the 2022 edition of The Hundred on Tuesday.

Pollard will join the likes of Mark Wood and Glenn Maxwell for the Spirit in the 100-ball per team tournament.

His Trinidadian countrymen Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo will turn out for the Northern Superchargers and Oval Invincibles, respectively, while Andre Russell was the first selection for the Manchester Originals. All four West Indians were taken at the highest price range of 125,000 pounds sterling.

The second edition of the Hundred will run from August 3-September 3. The inaugural edition in 2021 was won by the Southern Braves.

 

Andre Russell and Sunil Narine both had solid outings with the ball to help the Kolkata Knight Riders secure a six wicket win over defending champions Chennai Super Kings to kick off the 2022 Tata Indian Premier League at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.

The Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field first, a decision which was proven right early as the Super Kings lost openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (0) and Devon Conway (3) in quick succession.

Despite a fighting 50 not out from former captain MS Dhoni, Chennai could only muster up 131-5 off their 20 overs.

Umesh Yadav bowled a fiery spell to finish with 2-20 from his four overs.

Narine went wicketless in his four overs while only conceding 15 runs and Russell took 1-38 from his four overs.

KKR then got through their chase with little resistance thanks to a top score of 44 from Ajinkya Rahane and solid contributions from Sam Billings (25) and Nitish Rana (21).

Captain Shreyas Iyer (20) and Sheldon Jackson (3) were at the crease when KKR got to 133-4 with nine balls to spare.

Despite the loss, Dwayne Bravo was excellent with the ball taking 3-20 from his four overs and, in the process, joining Sri Lankan great Lasith Malinga at the top of the all-time IPL leading wicket-takers list with 170.

Comilla Victorians are now three-time champions of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) after securing a narrow one-run win over Fortune Barishal in the final in Mirpur on Friday.

In a rematch of the first qualifier which Barishal won by 10 runs, the Victorians won the toss and batted first.

Sunil Narine followed up his 13-ball 50 in the second qualifier with a 23-ball 57 to spur the Victorians to 151-9 off their 20 overs. The Trinidadian’s knock included five fours and five sixes.

Moeen Ali provided good support for Narine with 38 off 32 balls against 2-27 off four overs from Mujeeb Ur Rahman and 2-32 off four overs from Shafiqul Islam.

Scoreboard pressure in a final once again proved to be a major factor as Barishal made a meal of a fairly manageable total.

Shykat Ali (58) and Chris Gayle (33) were the only batsmen to get significant scores for Barishal against 2-15 from four overs from Narine and 2-25 from four overs from Tanvir Islam.

Comilla Victorians previously won BPL in 2015 and 2019.

Man of the Match Sunil Narine scored the fastest 50 in BPL history on Wednesday to propel Comilla Victorians to a seven-wicket victory over Chattogram Challengers and a place in the finals of the tournament where they will face Fortune Barishal.

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