Ramdin, Ahmed secure top-two finish for Trinbago Knight Riders

Ramdin scored a 31-ball 51 as the Knight Riders posted 180/5 after being asked to bat by Barbados Tridents, helped by contributions from Colin Munro (28 off 29), Chris Lynn (29 off 10), Darren Bravo (20* off 24) and Dwayne Bravo (33 off 20).

The Tridents then threatened for a large part of the chase, especially when Nicholas Pooran was in the middle. He scored a 32-ball 44, but when he was run out in the 17th over, the Knight Riders had the advantage. They held on for a nine-run win, with the Tridents finishing on 171/5.

The victory, their seventh in the tournament, helped the Knight Riders increase their lead at the top of the table to three points over second-placed over St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, with a game in hand.

A lot of that had to do with Ahmed. He had the top three Tridents batsmen dismissed at crucial junctures to ensure their chase never gathered too much steam.

He first had Tion Webster sent back for a run-a-ball 16, and followed it up with the wicket of Sunny Sohal (22 off 20) in his next over. When he returned to dismiss Shai Hope in the 13th over, for a 22-ball 26, the Tridents were 92/3 and still needed 89 off 47 balls.

Pooran’s run out more or less sealed the deal.

Ahmed was named Player of the Match for his fine performance, but revealed the conditions were tricky. “Pretty happy doing my job, and pretty pleased that I'm contributing to the team's win,” he said. “I'm working extremely hard. It was extremely difficult, the conditions today were really bad. Hopefully, we get better conditions in the semi-final.”

Dwayne Bravo, the Knight Riders captain, said his side needed a game like this ahead of the knockouts. “Down to the wire, down to the last over. As Jason (Holder) mentioned, the young players of his team gave a good fight. They gave us a challenge. It was a good game of cricket.”

With their place in the semi-final secured, will they rest a few players for the clash against Guyana Amazon Warriors? “We don't flirt with the form,” said Bravo. “We want to play our best team. We never relax and have a goal to try and win as many games as possible. Every time we play against Guyana, it's a big game. It's going to be a hard game. They will have their home advantage, we are looking forward to it.”

The Knight Riders face Guyana on 9 September, two days before their Qualifier 1 clash.