Pollard plots TKR's win over holders St. Lucia Kings

Kieron Pollard smashed six sixes and four fours in a 29-ball 65 to help Trinbago Knight Riders down the holders St. Lucia Kings at their home.

Trinbago Knight Riders finished with 183/7, thanks to key contributions from Colin Munro and Nicholas Pooran. St. Lucia Kings began well through Tim Seifert and Johnson Charles but the Knight Riders kept hitting back with wickets.

Munro started brightly in the company of Alex Hales, racing towards 50 inside the PowerPlay. However, David Wiese put a hard stop to that flourish with the wicket of Hales in the fifth over. Pooran and Pollard then forged a game-defining partnership worth 82 runs off just 42 deliveries.

Pollard smashed his 200th CPL six in the 15th over off Wiese and went ballistic in the 17th over, hitting three successive sixes to get to a 22-ball 50. Pooran fell for an uncharacteristically subdued 34 off 30 balls, but Pollard pushed on.

In response, Seifert and Charles made their intentions of chasing it down amply clear, taking 15 off Akeal Hosein in the second over and hitting Mohammad Amir for 12 in the third. However, the Knight Riders did well to bounce back through the middle phase as the scoring slowed and breakthroughs arrived.

The Kings slipped from 84/1 in 10 overs to 115/4 in 15 overs, taking the wind out of their sails. Delano Potgieter and Wiese kept the home fans hopeful, but off-spinner Usman Tariq capped off a fine spell of bowling by dismissing Wiese and finishing with figures of 2 for 20.

In the end, the Knight Riders won by 18 runs, with Brief Scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 183/7 in 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 65, Colin Munro 43; Keon Gaston 2-38) beat St. Lucia Kings 165/6 in 20 overs (Johnson Charles 47, Tim Seifert 35; Usman Tariq 2-20).