Cricket: Trinbago Knight Riders win CPL 2023

Knight Riders beat Barbados Royals by 8 wickets

Match summary and highlights

The Trinbago Knight Riders have won the 2023 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) after beating the Barbados Royals by 8 wickets in the final. The match was played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago and saw the Knight Riders chase down a target of 162 with 10 balls to spare.

The Royals won the toss and elected to bat first, but they lost wickets at regular intervals throughout their innings and were eventually bowled out for 161 in the 20th over. Jason Holder top-scored for the Royals with 31 runs, while Kyle Mayers made 29 and Rahkeem Cornwall contributed 28.

For the Knight Riders, Akeal Hosein and Jayden Seales took three wickets each, while Anderson Phillip and Ravi Rampaul took two wickets apiece.

In the chase, the Knight Riders lost the wicket of Tion Webster early on, but a solid partnership between Colin Munro and Tim Seifert put them in control of the run chase. Munro eventually fell for 43, but Seifert went on to make an unbeaten 64 to lead the Knight Riders to victory.

This is the Knight Riders' fourth CPL title, moving them one ahead of the Barbados Trident for the most titles in the competition's history.

Match MVP

Jemimah Rodrigues was named the player of the match for her all-round performance. She took 2 wickets for 20 runs in her 4 overs, then hit an unbeaten 45 off just 33 balls to help the Knight Riders chase down the target.

Reaction

Trinbago Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard was delighted with his team's victory.

"It's a great feeling to win the CPL again," said Pollard. "We've worked hard all season and we're very happy to have come out on top. We played well in all three departments today and we deserved to win.

Barbados Royals captain Kyle Mayers was disappointed with his team's performance.

"We didn't bat well enough today," said Mayers. "We lost wickets at crucial times and we never really got going. Trinbago bowled well and they deserved to win.

Overview

The CPL is the premier Twenty20 cricket league in the Caribbean.

The league was founded in 2013 and has since grown into one of the most popular cricket leagues in the world.

The CPL features six teams from across the Caribbean, including the Trinbago Knight Riders, Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors, Jamaica Tallawahs, St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, and St Lucia Kings.

The CPL is played over a six-week period, with each team playing 10 matches in the group stage.

The top four teams in the group stage advance to the playoffs, with the winner of the final being crowned CPL champions.