Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo scripted an unbeaten partnership of 138 runs as Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) defeated St Lucia Zouks to lift the Caribbean Premier League title on Thursday.
Riding on the partnership of Bravo and Simmons, TKR chased down the target of 155 runs with more than an over to spare to win the CPL 2020 trophy. TKR won their fourth title without losing a single match in this season.
Batting first, Zouks put up what looked like a competitive total on the board. Darren Sammy’s men could have posted a more commendable score had they not lost their last seven wickets off just 32 balls while adding only 39.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Andre Fletcher was the top scorer with his valuable knock of 39, followed by Mark Deyal’s 29 and Najibullah’s 24.
For the TKR, skipper Kieron Pollard was the star with the ball as he returned with figures of 4/30. It was his introduction into bowling that sparked the collapse in Zouks’ batting order. From 89/2 in the 11th over to all-out for 155 proved a blow too heavy for the Zouks to deal with.
Chasing the target, Knight Riders did not have a great start as they lost two quick wickets within the first four overs. However, Simmons joined hands with Bravo and both steered the team to a historic and rather comfortable win in the 19th over of the game. While Simmons played an unbeaten knock of 84 — his 49-ball knock was studded with eight 4s and four 6s, Bravo remained not out on 58 with the help of two 4s and six 6s.
Brief scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 157/2 (Simmons 84*, Bravo 58*; Chase 1/13) beat St Lucia Zouks 154 all out (Fletcher 39, Deyal 29; Pollard 4/30) by 8 wickets.