West Indies allrounder Andre Russell has suggested via a strongly worded Instagram story that defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders were “robbed” of a win during Tuesday night’s CPL Eliminator against Barbados Royals in Providence, Guyana, due to what he believes was a farcical floodlight situation.
Having elected to bat, Knight Riders were 168 for 3 in 19.1 overs when the match was stopped, with three of the six floodlights at the venue going off abruptly. It was 8.58pm at this point, and the players walked off the field.
“In the opinion of the on-field field umpires, Deighton Butler and Nigel Duguid the lighting level made it unsafe for play to continue,” a statement from the CPL said. “Nevertheless, given the importance of the game, both teams were offered the opportunity to continue playing in the reduced lighting. While the Barbados Royals were willing to continue, the Trinbago Knight Riders, as was their right, did not want to carry on playing in conditions, which the umpires had decided were unsafe.”
The power situation was sorted out nearly two hours later, at 10.51pm, exactly 10 minutes before the cut-off time of 11.01 pm for a five-over match.
Treating the situation as they would during bad light or rain, the match officials revised the target under the DLS method: Royals began their chase needing 60 runs off five overs to make Qualifier 2. South African power-hitter David Miller barely broke a sweat as he blasted an unbeaten 17-ball 50 to take Royals past the finish line with four deliveries to spare.
“The Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League playing conditions allow for one hour extra time to be added to a game before overs are lost, and a failure of floodlights is treated in exactly the way as an interruption for rain,” Reon King, CWI senior match referee, said. “The priority for the match officials team is always for the safety of players, but they also work to try and see if the outcome of a game, one way or another, can be achieved on the field of play. This was the focus applied during the Eliminator match.”
Russell, who was batting on 20 when the lights went off, did not hide his disappointment a day later. “Am not the person to come on the internet and voice my opinion but this year CPL I feel robbed,” he said. “This light situation was ****ry lights came on just before the cut off time is also ****ry and then 60 off 30 balls is also a bigger ****ry.”
Pollard philosophical in defeat
Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard was more measured in his reaction despite his team going out of the tournament. Speaking at the post-match presentation, Pollard said the umpires had informed the teams about the minimum overs needed for a result, the cut-off time, and what would happen in case the lights were not restored. If the floodlights were not restored, then Knight Riders, based on their superior position on the points table, would have gone through.
Pollard said that while option of resuming play under insufficient light, in case all the three floodlights were not restored, was spoken of, everyone agreed it would be “dangerous” and in case “someone was to get injured in that light or whatever the case is, for the sake of cricket then it would have been hard felt by each and every one of us. So again, at the end of the day, the ground staff and the persons in charge did what they had to do in order to get a game of cricket. And with the rules, we could have gotten a game in. And here we are now.”
Pollard said once the lights were back, he was “always ready and willing to play within the rules” of the game and did not mind the five-over match. “If rain had fell or something like that, it would have been the same sort of instances where you have to get up and be prepared to play,” he said. “So again, it tends to happen and it happens. They [Royals] had a target of 60 to chase, and, well batted by Miller in the end.”
Royals captain Rovman Powell did not hide his emotions, saying it was a case of “getting lucky” considering he admitted at one point he and his team believed they were “out of the competition” when the three floodlights conked off. “But once the lights came back, we knew it was our game to lose; five over 60 runs, not very difficult.” Powell said it was “unfortunate” for Knight Riders to be “on the wrong side of luck”.
Underground-cable issue caused floodlight failure
Late on Tuesday night, the Guyana Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport issued a public statement jointly with Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), stating that while two floodlights were restored quickly, a “technical fault” in the underground cable supplying power to the third floodlight took time to be fixed. It is understood that the underground cable was burned and replaced.
“During the nineteenth over, three (3) floodlights that were powered by an independent generator lost power, thus causing a disruption to the match,” the joint statement said. “The GPL technical team on standby immediately began rendering assistance and restored power to two of three floodlights on the same circuit.
“The Stadium’s Technical staff and GPL worked assiduously to restore power to the third floodlight which had a technical fault with the underground cable feeding power to that Floodlight, a substitute cable was installed quicky to have this floodlight operational. This was achieved around 10.51 pm.”
3.16am GMT: The story was updated after the CPL released a statement on the Eliminator
