TRINBAGO Knight Riders (TKR) are in danger of not qualifying for the playoffs of the 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament after losing by seven runs to St Kitts and Nevis Patriots at Providence Stadium in Georgetown, Guyana, on Thursday.
TKR are now fifth in the six-team standings with seven points.
They will have to win their last preliminary match against Guyana Amazon Warriors and hope other results go their way to advance to the playoffs.
TKR will play Amazon Warriors at Providence on Saturday, at 7 pm.
The top four teams will qualify for the playoffs, which start on Tuesday at Providence.
Batting first, Patriots were struggling on 94/4 after 17 overs.
Sherfane Rutherford and Dewald Brevis then swung the match in the Patriots' favour with destructive hitting.
Medium pacer Andre Russell was punished by Rutherford as the left-handed Guyanese batsman made use of familiar conditions. Rutherford got to his 50 by pulling Russell for six over mid-wicket. Russell conceded 18 runs in the 18th over.
In the 19th over, left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein was struck for four sixes and one four. He leaked 30 runs in the over as Brevis joined the fun with impressive batting.
Rutherford fell in the last over to fast bowler Daryn Dupavillon, but Patriots added another 21 runs in the over to close on 163/6 in 20 overs. They slammed 69 runs in the last three overs.
Rutherford struck 78 off 50 balls with six fours and five sixes and Brevis hit five sixes in his cameo of 30 not out off six balls.
Dupavillon ended with 3/38 in four overs for TKR.
In response, TKR got off to another disappointing start and were reduced to 22/2 in the fourth over, with Leonardo Julien (one) and Colin Munro (three) already dismissed.
Runs were hard to come by for TKR, crawling to 33/2 after seven overs. At this stage TKR captain Kieron Pollard had four off 19 deliveries.
TKR’s run rate was slow until spinner Akila Dananjaya conceded 18 runs in the 12th over as the TT franchise moved to 79/2.
Pollard fell for 31 off 36 balls and Nicholas Pooran’s dismal run of form continued as he was out for 15 off ten balls. TKR were now 105/4 after 15.1 overs and in need of a special innings.
Seifert, TKR’s best batsman this season, continued to battle at the crease and was joined by Russell.
Requiring 50 off the last three overs, Russell demonstrated his ability and gave TKR a chance. Seifert fell for 59 off 47 balls with four fours and three sixes, but Russell kept TKR in the contest as the TT franchise needed 16 of the last over.
Sheldon Cottrell bowled Russell in the fourth ball of the last over for 29 off 17 as TKR had to get two sixes of the final two balls to win.
TKR could not get over the line and closed on 156/7 in 20 overs.
Cottrell took 3/33 in four overs for Patriots.
Summarised Scores:
ST KITTS AND NEVIS PATRIOTS 163/6 (20 overs) – Sherfane Rutherford 78, Dewald Brevis 30 not out; Daryn Dupavillon 3/38 vs TKR 156/7 (20 overs) – Tim Seifert 59, Kieron Pollard 31, Andre Russell 29; Sheldon Cottrell 3/33, Kevin Sinclair 2/18, Dwayne Bravo 2/46. Patriots won by seven runs