Pollard and Seifert smashed 49 in the final two overs to give Knight Riders a fighting total
Trinbago Knight Riders 167 for 4 (Simmons 42, Pollard 39*, Wasim 1-13) beat Jamaica Tawallahs 92 (Powell 22, Ali Khan 4-6, Narine 2-11) by 75 runs
Batting first, Knight Riders started cautiously, content to go along at a run a ball in the powerplay without losing a wicket. However, as the innings wore on, it became clear runs off the spinners were hard to come by, with Imad Wasim and Veersammy Paul allowing just 33 in their combined eight overs. They also removed Colin Munro and Leonardo Julien, while Carlos Brathwaite took care of an off-colour Lendl Simmons at the top.
The innings looked like it was stalling before Seifert came out to partner Pollard. Smashing 24 off just eight balls, Seifert helped Pollard change gear too, setting up a chase that suddenly looked extremely stiff.
Akeal Hosein and Khary Pierre played their part at the top, complimenting Ali Khan by keeping things tight at the other end, while Tallawahs’ belief of chasing the total down diminished rapidly. In the end, both innings illustrated the importance of tight spin bowling, but Knight Riders’ ability to keep their powder dry by having wickets at the end to play with, and an explosive final two overs with the bat, had made all the difference.
Danyal Rasool is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Danny61000