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TKR ready to entertain home crowd

After four matches on the road, four-time Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Champions, Trinbago Knight Riders, are getting ready for the home leg of the competition. The Kieron Pollard-led team secured away wins against the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots, the St. Lucia Kings, and the Barbados Royals but suffered a loss against the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons. TKR will begin the Trinidad leg of the CPL on Wednesday with an already sold-out affair against reigning champions the Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Queen’s Park Oval. The four-time CPL Champions will play back-to-back as they face the Falcons on Thursday in an effort to avenge the defeat to the Falcons at North Sound, Antigua. Both Oval matches will start at 7 pm. TKR will then switch to the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando, to face the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots on Sunday also at 7 pm, before a 10 am appointment with the St. Lucia Kings on Republic Day, September 24th, before they wrap up the home matches against the Barbados Royals on Friday 27th at 8 pm

The team arrived on Saturday night, and while Tim David is yet to join the team, the Australian will join the squad in time for Wednesday.“Having done three out of four games, that’s exceptional,” Borde said.
He added, “Particularly when we have a couple of senior players who did not play and the young players have shown that, given the opportunities that they’re grasping a little with both hands, and that’s good for the team.  Now, we get home for gruelling a couple of weeks, but we look forward to it. The team is clear about their mission. Obviously, we look forward to trying to accumulate more points to make sure that we qualify for the playoffs.”

Dwayne Bravo, who is retiring after this edition of the CPL, is yet to play a match; however, the experienced manager said the former captain is ready to play.He continued, “There are some changes that may be made going forward, and they’ll make those announcements. We certainly will see Dwayne Bravo,” Borde assured. This is Dwayne’s last CPL, and obviously he’s going to want to play in front of his home crowds. And we have a couple of things planned going forward, and certainly, we will see Dwayne Bravo playing in Trinidad. We expect that Russell will be available again. And then we have a couple of things on the table. TM David is going to be joining us.” Borde said to look forward to announcements about the TKR in the coming days.

In reply to sgtdjones

In reply to googley

TKR BACK HOME
Skipper Pollard urges players to continue to work hard

Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) skipper Kieron Pollard is urging his players to continue putting in the hard work as they gear up for their home leg of matches in the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League T20.
TKR will square off against defending champions Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, from 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The most successful CPL franchise, TKR posted their third win from four matches when defeating Barbados Royals at Kensington Oval last Friday night, before returning to Trinidad on Saturday ahead of their five home games.
Following their clash against the GAW, the Knights then face Antigua and Barbuda Falcons on Thursday at the QPO. And after a two-day break, with the action shifting to the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, they host St Kitts and Nevis Patriots from 7 p.m. on Sunday.On the Republic Day holiday, Pollard’s men will battle St Lucia Kings in a 10 a.m. match at Tarouba before ending the home leg on September 27 against the Barbados Royals at the same venue from 8 p.m.

TKR are currently on six points. Two victories at home will be enough for TKR to clinch a playoff spot, but the 2023 finalists will be aiming for perfection as they hunt an unprecedented fifth CPL crown. “Terrance to the international scene,” Pollard said of Terrance Hinds’ six to seal a tense two-wicket victory against the Royals, off the penultimate ball of the game. “Getting the opportunity to bat and win games when your primary thing is to bowl, I think is commendable. “The hard work that you have been putting in continues to show that when you give cricket your heart and soul, cricket tends to reward you. So this is not an opportunity to stop now and relax. This is an opportunity for you to continue to work hard,” he told Hinds and the rest of the squad. “And yes, from a bowling perspective, you felt that you didn’t bowl well because you look at the scorecard but at the end of the day, we average out everything and if you said we going to get 155 at the start, we were going to take it,” Pollard added. “So we continue to work hard and continue to get better. But being able to finish off the match and keeping your composure after the first half, well done to you.” Pollard also reminded his players that “When we have our chats in our batting meeting, everyone is there because we expect one to 11 to deliver for us in different scenarios and I just thought from a batting perspective we went great as a team. “I see the youngsters learning very quickly and that is very pleasing for all of us in the dressing room, so well done.” He also praised the work of Akeal Hosein in the win against the Royals after the left-arm orthodox spinner took two wickets (for 29 runs) and scored 20 off ten balls.

Hosein acknowledged that the CPL trophy has eluded TKR for a few seasons and that everyone needed to play a part if they are to secure their fifth title. “The trophy eluded us for a couple of years, so it is all hands on deck and it is good to have these type of finishes from the younger guys to help out the senior guys,” said Hosein. The last of TKR’s four championship wins came in 2020.They also won the tournament in 2015, 2017 and 2018. Meanwhile, head coach Phil Simmons said the team is in a good place ahead of their home games with different players stepping up when needed and he is hoping that trend continues. “We are leaving here and going home in a brilliant space I would say,” Simmons told the players in a dressing room chat on Saturday. “Three wins from four games and now we are going home. But it wasn’t just winning. In every game somebody else stood up and that is important for teams,” he added.

Phew sarge that article long too bad

I want to see of the Oval will fill up two days and then we have a half empty BLA stadium …

In reply to sgtdjones

Bravo!

Dr Russ!

In reply to Halliwell

Stop eating bread and gravy ( Yorkshire Pudding) and you can focus better

Stadiums almost sold out...

Googley busy saying pujas daily for GAW...

In reply to googley

Take care and check Tahir takes his Vitamins too.

In reply to granite

Tahir takes his vitamins intravenously!