Following what could only be described as an abject display of batting, Sunil Narine’s Los Angeles Knight Riders were skittled out for 50; that’s right, 50 runs to lose by 105 runs to Kieron Pollard’s MI New York in their Major League Cricket encounter in Dallas, Texas on Sunday night.

Neither side would have been proud of their efforts with the bat after Pollard won the toss and elected to bat. It was not long before they were in dire straits at 54-4 in the ninth over. Nicholas Pooran’s 38 and Tim David, the Player of the Match, who top scored with an unbeaten 48 got them past 100 and onto a final score of 155-8.

Corne Fry was the best of the Knight Riders’ bowlers with 2-10. Adam Zampa chipped in with 2-25 and Ali Khan 2-28.

With a relatively modest target of 156, Knight Riders would have been licking their chops in anticipation of an easy night. It was anything but as only Onmukt Chand was the only batter in double figures with his score of 26.

Andre Russell faced six balls for two runs and Narine faced four for his two as the Knight Riders collapsed to 50 all out in the 14^th over.

Ehsan Adil and Nosthush Kenjige each took 2-7 while Pollard, who made only five when New York was at the crease, took 2-10. Trent Boult and Kagiso Rabada also took two wickets each.

The win elevated New York up to second in the table with one win and a loss while Los Angeles sits at the foot of the six-team table after consecutive losses.

Needless to say neither captain was particularly happy, Pollard only more slightly so.

“Happy with that (the end result). Not happy with the performance, though. Losing five wickets in the 10-11 overs is unacceptable from our team. We lost a lot of wickets in the first game as well and that can cost us,” said Pollard.

Responding to whether his openers were going too hard at the start, the former West Indies white-ball captain replied, “I do not think so. Some of the guys playing this level of cricket for the first time in franchise cricket. We need to give them time but it is about understanding what needs to be done. You cannot win the game in the first six overs

Nicholas Pooran’s purple patch with the bat continued on Sunday as the Deccan Gladiators notched a close 18-run win over Delhi Gladiators in the Abu Dhabi T10.

Pooran, who came into the match with scores of 77 and 80, scored 34 from just 17 balls as Gladiators posted 140-2 from their 10 overs.

After losing Jason Roy for four in the first over, Pooran hit three fours and two sixes as he and opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore added 122 for the second wicket. Pooran was eventually dismissed in the ninth over by Waquas Maqsood, who took 1-21.

Meanwhile, Kohler-Cadmore blasted his way to an unbeaten 82 with eight fours and six sixes.

He and Andre Russell put on 12 in the final eight balls with the Jamaican scoring 10 that included a six over extra cover off Shimraz Ahmed, who conceded 11 in the over.

Imad Wasim had figures of 1-17.

Delhi Bulls made a good fist of it to score 122-4 from their 10 overs.

They owed their solid effort to a 24-ball 48 from Tim David and Rilee Rossouw, who scored 28 from 15. However, needing to score 14 an over proved too much for Delhi Bulls despite a gallant 14 not out from eight balls from Keemo Paul at the end.

David and Rossouw put on 79 for the third wicket after Tom Banton (12) and Rahkeem Cornwall (2) were back in the hutch in the third over with 26 runs on the board.

Russell got rid of the dangerous David in the ninth over effectively swinging the pendulum in Gladiators’ favour for the remaining 10 balls from which the Delhi Bulls could only muster 17 runs.

Russell’s two overs cost 26 runs but Josh Little proved much more effective with the wickets of Cornwall and Rossouw to return figures of 2-11.

Saint Lucia Kings kept their Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hopes alive with a dominant victory against St Kitts & Nevis Patriots at the Darren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia Sunday night.

 The Patriots won the toss and opted to field first and that appeared to have backfired when Johnson Charles and Faf Du Plessis put on a blistering opening partnership that saw them post 61 runs in the PowerPlay. 

 However, much like their performance against the Guyana Amazon Warriors, the Kings faltered badly in the back end of their innings losing nine wickets for 75 runs.  

Despite the stuttering end to their innings, the 161-9 the Kings posted always looked tricky and the Patriots got off to a bad start in the PowerPlay losing three wickets for 48 runs.

They never recovered from that position as the Kings blew them away with an excellent performance in the field. Tim David led the way with a Hero CPL record-equalling five catches in the outfield. 

The Kings needed a good performance in this must-win game and led by captain Faf Du Plessis’ 60 runs from 35 balls they set off very quickly. 

Ably assisted by the in-form Johnson Charles the pair put on 86 for the first wicket but once Charles fell the Kings innings fell away. They regularly lost wickets in clusters and when Alzarri Joseph departed for a duck with the score on 124-7 it looked as if the Kings may not see out the overs. 

However, late hitting from Matthew Forde ensured the Kings were able to post a par score of 161. 

The Patriots' innings was in deep trouble very early on in reply. Matthew Forde ripped through the top three to leave the Patriots teetering at the end of the Powerplay.

 From that point, the Patriots failed to build any meaningful partnership as their top order continued to struggle.

 When Alzarri Joseph removed Darren Bravo for 20 to leave the Patriots on 81-6, that was the last of the recognised batters and the innings soon ended with the Patriots ending on 100 all out.

Saint Lucia Kings 161-9 (Du Plessis 60, Charles 41; Pretorius 3-37, Dananjaya 2-30) beat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 100 (Lewis 24, Bravo 20; Wiese 3-17, Forde 3-19) by 61 runs.

Barbados Royals maintained their 100 per cent record with a dominant victory over the Saint Lucia Kings in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on Thursday.

The Royals won the toss and opted to field first and that proved an inspired decision as they made regular inroads into the Kings' top order to leave them teetering on 90-5.

However, the international pair of Tim David and David Wiese put together a rescue act to ensure the Kings posted a respectable total for their bowlers to try and defend.

That total never looked enough in the Barbados Royals' reply as Corbin Bosch arrived with the bat in the Hero CPL to lead his side to victory.

 Earlier on the Kings had posted what looked like a competitive total of 169-6. Reaching 50-1 at the end of the PowerPlay a solid foundation was established for their middle and lower order to capitalise on.

 However, the Royals were excellent in the middle section of the innings. Led by Hayden Walsh’s miserly leg-spin bowling they took wickets in regular clusters to reduce the Kings from 57-1 to 90-5.

 Tim David and David Wiese refused to succumb to the pressure and they counter-attacked brilliantly to put on a 79-run partnership from 43 balls to ensure a potential defendable total was put on the board.

 170 to win should have proved tricky for the Royals to chase but despite losing opener Quinton De Kock for a golden duck, Kyle Mayers and Corbin Bosch plundered 84 runs from 48 balls to put their side well ahead of the game.

 Even after Mayers departed, Bosch continued to have fruitful partnerships with Azam Khan and David Miller respectively until the all-rounder was eventually dismissed by Alzarri Joseph for 81 from 50 balls.

 After Bosch departed it was Miller and Holder who saw out the rest of the chase with minimum fuss to make it four wins from four for the impressive Barbados Royals.

Faf du Plessis, who captained the Kings to a second successive Hero CPL final in 2021, will return this season. Tim David and David Wiese will join him after were both instrumental to the Kings' success during the 2021 season.

This season will also see the return of Scott Kuggeleijn who played for the Kings in 2020, where he finished as the tournament’s leading wicket taker that season. The Kings have one more overseas spot left to fill, which will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Kings will have six more spots to fill at the Hero CPL draft with details of these picks released during the draft show which will be broadcast this Thursday 7 July – at 9 am Eastern Caribbean Time.

The Kings' squad so far: Faf du Plessis,.

To be confirmed: Tim David, Roston Chase, Johnson Charles, Kesrick Williams, David Wiese, Alzarri Joseph, Scott Kuggeleijn, Mark Deyal, Jeavor Royal.

The Saint Lucia Kings repeated their performance from 24 hours earlier and once again recorded a win over St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in their 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) encounter.

The Patriots won the toss and stand-in captain Chris Gayle chose to bat first, yet it turned out to be a trial by spin as they faltered for 118 all out against the turn of Jeavor Royal and Samit Patel.

The Kings got off to the worst possible start in their chase, losing Andre Fletcher to a Fabian Allen delivery in the very first ball of the innings. They rebuilt via Roston Chase to comfortably reach their target of 119.

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots lost their two explosive batsmen in the PowerPlay overs, as Evin Lewis and Chris Gayle were dismissed early. Youngster Royal was the stand out bowler with three wickets while Patel was the most economical. A mix-up saw the dangerous Sherfane Rutherford run out and while Fabian Allen tried to give his side a big finish, he was dismissed in the 19th over.  

Despite losing Fletcher in the first ball of the innings, Saint Lucia Kings still had the dangerous Faf du Plessis, who raced to 22 off 14 balls, before being caught out. The in-form Roston Chase ended up seeing his side home with a superb innings that saw him reach yet another half-century, this time in 36 six balls, his third in a row at this year’s Hero CPL.

The Kings chased their target in the 16th over as the powerful Tim David helped take them over the line with a rapid 18 runs off 7 balls.    

Saint Lucia Kings now have their third consecutive win of the tournament and move closer to the top spot of the league standings.

Saint Lucia Kings 121-4 (Chase 51*, du Plessis 22; Allen 2-30, Naseem 1-11) beat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 118 all out (Allen 34, Thomas 28; Royal 3-20, Patel 2-15) by six wickets.

The Saint Lucia Kings claimed their first victory of the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League with a thrilling win over the Trinbago Knight Riders by five runs.

Tim David was once again the star for the Kings with 43 from 32 balls that saw his side post 157-5 from their 20 overs. 

The Knight Riders looked to take the game deep thanks to a brilliant 40 from 16 balls from Tim Seifert but the Kings claimed a last-ball win.

 The Kings started brightly after being put in to bat with Andre Fletcher and Rahkeem Cornwall putting on 51 for the first wicket. It was Cornwall who went first when he lobbed a ball from Ravi Rampaul to extra cover.

A burst of three wickets for the addition of just four runs pegged back the Kings and they looked to rebuild. A partnership of 68 between Roston Chase and Tim David brought the Kings back into the match with Chase playing the anchor role to David’s more aggressive approach.

 An enterprising stand between Chase and Keemo Paul took the Kings to 157-5 with Chase finishing on 30 not out.

 The Kings bowlers kept things tight at the start with the Knight Riders scoring at less than a run a ball inside the PowerPlay with Jeavor Royal particularly impressive with his left-arm spin. 

In the face of some excellent bowling, Lendl Simmons and Colin Munro struggled to kick on with Simmons falling to Paul for 25 from 30 balls. At the fall of Simmons wicket, the Knight Riders needed 88 from 43 balls. 

When Kieron Pollard fell for nine from 10 balls it was down to the New Zealand pair of Munro and Tim Seifert to get their side home. Seifert’s brilliant hitting took his team tantalisingly close to a victory, but Wahab Riaz successfully defended 14 runs from the final over.

Saint Lucia Kings 157-5 (David 42, Chase 30*;  Wahab 1-17, Chase 1-17) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 152-3 (Munro 40*, Seifert 40*; Hosein 3-27, Rampaul 3-29) by five runs

Records tumbled at Warner Park as the Jamaica Tallawahs destroyed the Saint Lucia Kings by 120 runs, the biggest win in Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) history.