BRIDGETOWN: Colin Munro and Denesh Ramdin bookended the Powerplay and end of the innings with half-centuries on the way to the highest ever total at Queen’s Park Oval in the CPL’s six-year history.
This helped defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders open the 2018 CPL edition with a thumping 100-run win over St Lucia Stars.Though the team has been rejigged, with a new captain in Kieron Pollard, the results for ST Lucia clearly haven’t taken a drastic turn for the better. They are now on a 12-match losing streak stretching back to 2016.
Two balls into the 2018 season, the Stars showed they have not escaped their woes from the previous season; Darren Sammy shelled a regulation chance at slip off Chris Lynn. It was the first of four drops in the innings. It’s another thing that Lynn didn’t make them pay as he fell soon after.
Sunil Narine was reprieved off the very first ball he faced, in the second over, at short midwicket by Kesrick Williams, while Brendon McCullum got a second life when wicketkeeper Andre Fletcher couldn’t latch onto a thin edge off Afghan legspinner Qais Ahmad. To sum up the sorry state of the Stars fielding, the sure-handed David Warner spilled a chance at wide long-on in the 19th over to give Dwayne Bravo a life.
Munro was undeterred as the wickets of Narine, Brendon McCullum and Darren Bravo fell around him, cutting Pollard past a stumbling Sammy at backward point in the 12th over to bring up a 33-ball half-century. He added 51 for the fifth wicket with Ramdin before falling when he walked too far across his stumps to flick Pollard over fine leg.
