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Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) continued their fine form in their homestand in the 2025 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season as they got an impressive six-wicket win against rivals Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA), Tarouba, on August 30.
A night before Independence Day in Trinidad and Tobago, the Nicholas Pooran-led team gave the raucous fans more reason to party as they moved to ten points and opened up a lead atop the six-team table with their fifth win in six games.
Chasing a modest target of 164, TKR were led in the chase by their dominant overseas opening pair of Alex Hales (74 off 43 balls) and Colin Munro (52 off 30), both of whom struck impressive fifties. For the second straight night, Munro surged past the 50-run mark in what is becoming a truly remarkable season on his CPL return, while Hales got his second fifty in three innings after scoring 55 not out against Antigua and Barbuda Falcons on August 27.
Hales and Munro were belligerent in their opening stand as they put together 116 inside 11 overs, before GAW captain Imran Tahir (four for 27) eventually made the breakthrough. Both batsmen exploited favourable matchups in the power play, as Munro hit three fours and a six off left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie in the second over, with Hales launching into countryman and off-spinner Moeen Ali with three consecutive sixes and a four to start the subsequent over. TKR stormed to 77 without loss at the end of the power play and added 27 more by the halfway stage. Both batsmen also rode their luck, as Munro was dropped on 31 by Quentin Sampson while Hales was dropped on 51 by Shimron Hetmyer and then on 67 by Hassan Khan.
In an eventful 11th over, the energetic Tahir threatened to turn the game on its head when he had the scalps of Munro, Keacy Carty and Pooran (both duck) as TKR went from 116 without loss to 117 for three in the blink of an eye. In his final over, Tahir returned to give TKR supporters more palpitations when he got the wicket of the set Hales, swinging a short delivery to Ben McDermott on the mid-wicket boundary in the 15th over.
Despite the slip, TKR were still in a commanding position needing 27 off the last 35 balls. Andre Russell (27 not out off 14) and former TKR captain Kieron Pollard (12 not out) took TKR safely over the line with more than two overs to spare with an unbeaten 32-run partnership for the fifth wicket as the hosts raced to 169 for four from 17.2 overs.
Earlier, TKR again won the toss and bowled as they limited a powerful GAW batting line-up to 163 for nine. Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, who claimed the Man of the Match award, was impressive both in and outside of the power play and grabbed figures of three for 27 after getting the wickets of McDermott (14), Khan (17) and Hetmyer, who threw his wicket away after clouting the spinner for a six off the first ball he faced.
It wasn't a fluid innings by GAW by any stretch, as they stumbled to 37 for three at the end of the power play after McDermott, Moeen Ali (four) and makeshift opener Gudakesh Motie (one) were all dismissed cheaply.
Khan and West Indies white-ball captain Shai Hope (39 off 29) staged something of a recovery, before the former was dismissed by Hosein in the ninth over after surviving an lbw review the ball before. When Hetmyer was brilliantly caught by Russell at backward square leg to end the over, Hope and Romario Shepherd (19 off 15) tried to consolidate through the middle overs with a watchful 38-run stand for the sixth wicket. Just when the pair appeared to be settling in, Shepherd was comprehensively bowled by the economical Sunil Narine (one for 17) in the 14th over as GAW slipped to 108 for six.
In the next over, Hope played a shot way out of character and was out hit-wicket after attempting an ill-advised reverse shot off a wide delivery from TKR seamer Terrance Hinds (two for 35). At that stage, GAW were in a precarious position at 109 for seven, and were eventually hauled to 163 for nine thanks to a 48-run stand for the eighth wicket between Dwaine Pretorious (21 off 16) and the debutant Sampson (25 off 19).
GAW's total would have been considered below par on the Tarouba surface and TKR certainly made light work of the target as they notched their fourth straight victory and third straight at the BLCA this season. TKR will next play the struggling St Kitts and Nevis Patriots from 11 am at the BLCA on September 1, before closing off their home leg against the reigning champions St Lucia Kings on September 3.

Summarised Scores:
GUYANA AMAZON WARRIORS: 163/9 from 20 overs (Shai Hope 39, Quentin Sampson 25, Dwaine Pretorius 21; Akeal Hosein 3/27, Terrance Hinds 2/35) vs TKR: 169/4 from 17.2 overs (Alex Hales 74, Colin Munro 52, Andre Russell 27 not out; Imran Tahir 4/27). TKR won by six wickets.
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