Barbados Royals crush Knight Riders to take top spot

All three Barbados Royals’ games in the ongoing CPL have been marred by rain, but the team in blue has found ways to record a hat-trick of wins, the latest being against a powerful Trinbago Knight Riders – a thumping 80-run win via DL method in St Lucia, which now puts them at the top of the table.
Opting to bowl, the Knight Riders’ bowlers were taken to the cleaners from the onset as Kyle Mayers blazed his way to a 33-ball 52 that included five fours and four sixes. His attacking knock not only helped the team record 60-0 at the end of powerplay, but also allowed his partner Quinton de Kock to play the second fiddle. Skipper Miller, who walked in at three, had the perfect platform to play his natural game and he didn’t disappoint.
The highly-rated South African left-hander offered much-needed momentum through the middle overs and stitched a crucial 58-run stand for the third wicket while at it. His 36-ball 60 ensured the Royals had a stiff total on the board to challenge one of the most feared batting line-ups of the tournament, the Trinbago Knight Riders. In fact, at the halfway stage, Quinton de Kock noted that “They (TKR) have the potential to chase it down. Every single one, everybody needs to be switched on. We have got a lot of options. If all goes fine, we should win.”
In pursuit of what appeared to be a huge target, the Trinbago Knight Riders smashed a couple of boundaries in the 12-run opening over, but that was the last bit of joy they had as wickets kept tumbling throughout the powerplay, making an absolute meal of the target. Barring Colin Munro, none of the top six could get to the double-digit scores and that left them reeling at 42/6 at the end of the powerplay.
There were a couple of rain-breaks during the course of the chase, but a relentless spell of rain at the end of the eighth over forced the umpires to call off the game, at which stage the TKR were behind by DLS calculations.