West Indies allrounder Andre Russell expressed his frustration in an Instagram story, suggesting that the defending champions, Trinbago Knight Riders, were “robbed” of a victory against the Barbados Royals in Tuesday night’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Eliminator at Providence, Guyana, due to what he described as a ridiculous floodlight situation.
After choosing to bat first, the Knight Riders found themselves at 168/3 in 19.1 overs when the match was halted, as three of the six floodlights at the venue abruptly went dark.
This occurred at 8:58pm, prompting the players to leave the field. The power issue was resolved nearly two hours later, at 10:51pm, just ten minutes before the cut-off time of 11:01pm for a five-over match.
It was deemed that the situation was similar to a rain interruption or poor light, the match officials adjusted the target using the DLS method: the Royals were then required to score 60 runs in five overs to secure a spot in Qualifier 2.
South African powerhouse David Miller hardly broke a sweat, scoring an impressive 50 off just 17 balls to lead the Royals to victory with four balls remaining.
Russell, who was on 20 runs when the lights went out, did not conceal his disappointment the following day. He stated, “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 composed despite defeat
Despite his team’s exit from the tournament, Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard took a more measured approach to the situation. During the post-match presentation, he explained that the umpires had notified both teams of the minimum overs required for a result, the cut-off time, and the procedure if the lights were not restored. Had the floodlights failed to come back on, the Knight Riders would have advanced based on their superior points standing.
Pollard acknowledged that while the option to resume play under inadequate lighting was discussed, everyone agreed it could be “dangerous” and expressed concern about the potential for injury. “(If) 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,” he said.
Pollard added that once the lights were restored, he was “always ready and willing to play within the rules” and was fine with the modified five-over match format.
He pointed out that if rain had affected the game, similar adjustments would have had to be made. “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 mask his excitement, admitting they felt “lucky” considering they initially believed they were “out of the competition” when the floodlights failed.
“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”.
What caused the floodlight issue?
Late Tuesday night, the Guyana Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport issued a public statement in collaboration with Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), explaining that while two floodlights were quickly restored, a “technical fault” in the underground cable supplying power to a third floodlight caused delays. It was confirmed that the underground cable had burned out and had to be 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 quickly to have this floodlight operational. This was achieved around 10.51 pm.”
