Jamaica Kingsmen 127 for 3 in 14.4 overs (Carty 42, McKenzie 30, Goolie 2-30) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 180 for 6 (Pooran 60*, Narine 53, Munro 52, Lawes 3-29, Hunain 2-27) by seven runs (DLS method)
It had the makings of a thriller, with Jamaica Kingsmen 127 for 3 in 14.4 overs chasing Trinbago Knight Riders’ 181 for 6 – Cricinfo’s win predictor swayed between the two teams but never too far away from either. But the rain that had interrupted Kingsmen’s chase for around an hour in the ninth over came back at that point and didn’t relent, giving them a slender win on DLS to lift them to second place on the CPL 2026 points table.
Knight Riders have every right to feel hard done by. Not because they were in a winning position but because they had an equal chance of getting those two points as their opponents. They had put the runs on the board courtesy half-centuries from their top three of Colin Munro, Sunil Narine and Nicholas Pooran, and Jyd Goolie and Usman Tariq had got them the top-order wickets they needed. But, then again, Kirk McKenzie, Keacy Carty and Saim Ayub had done the job for Kingsmen when they were thwarted.
Batting first after losing the toss, Knight Riders had a century stand for the first wicket with Munro and Narine. Narine smashed 53 in 24 balls and Munro contributed 44 in 29 as Knight Riders took away the early advantage, getting to 101 in the ninth over before Narine fell to Keemo Paul.
The comeback from Kingsmen came in the 14th over, bowled by Vitel Lawes, when Munro fell first ball, Kieron Pollard went next ball, and Matthew Tromp was dismissed off the last ball – a triple-wicket maiden. Lawes was later named the Player of the Match.
That over had the potential to derail the innings, and though Pooran hit three fours in the very next over, bowled by Odean Smith, Lawes and Hunain Shah combined to concede just 29 runs off the next four overs, with Hunain sending back Alex Hales and Goolie off back-to-back balls in the 19th. Pooran ended the innings with two sixes and a four off Paul in the 20th, but Kingsmen had all the momentum heading into the break.
And when the Kingsmen powerplay ended with 54 for 1 on the board, it looked even stevens.
Knight Riders, however, appeared to claw back in the next couple of overs, conceding just four and ten runs, and Goolie got rid of McKenzie first ball of the ninth, and when the rain came down the first time, Kingsmen still needed 107 from 68 balls. An hour was wasted, but no overs were lost.
Carty and Ayub had the chase in control again, hitting a boundary in each over from the 11th to the 14th. Kingsmen were still relatively comfortable despite the loss of Carty, bowled by Tariq, when the rain appeared out of nowhere, the covers came back on, and the players scurried off the field, this time not to return. “Tough one to swallow,” Pooran said on the broadcast later. Kingsmen might have felt the same way had they been behind the par score.
As things stand, Kingsmen, after a slow start to the competition, are up in second place with their fourth win, while Knight Riders are languishing at No. 5 with just two wins in six outings.
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