Munro sets CPL record
Colin Munro gazed around a heaving Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad and struggled to take it all in.
‘‘There’s a few more supporters out here for me than there is back home I reckon,’’ he said, clutching an oversized cheque for US$5000 (NZ$7600) for player of the 2018 Caribbean Premier League.
The Black Caps opener iced a record-breaking CPL season, hitting the winning runs in the final before being mobbed by his teammates yesterday.
The left-hander cracked an unbeaten 68 off 39 balls to lead Trinbago Knight Riders to back to back titles with a seven-wicket victory over Guyana Amazon Warriors.
As he carved Sohail Tanvir to the backward point boundary to reach their target of 148 with 15 balls to spare, Munro sparked jubilant scenes on the outfield as he took off, pursued by his teammates, including former Black Caps skipper Brendon McCullum. Never before had a batsman topped 500 runs in a CPL season. Munro ended with 567 runs from 13 innings at an average of 51.54 and strike rate of 140, an impressive 110 runs clear of second-placed Glenn Phillips, a fellow South African-born Auckland Ace.
Munro remarked he’d rarely had a standing ovation striding to the crease as the home crowd gave him a similar welcome the great left-hander Lara might have received in his day.
Named in the Black Caps Twenty20 and ODI squads to face Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in November, Munro said he’d adjusted the bull-ata-gate approach which brought him undone at times during the home summer.
‘‘On these surfaces you can’t just go from ball one as I’ve done in the past. I just tried to get myself under way before I took too many risks, get myself set for 20-30 balls and you can always capitalise at the end.’’
Guyana posted 147-9 on another slow, tricky surface, with former Black Caps gloveman Luke Ronchi topscoring with 44 off 35 balls.
In the chase McCullum got the Knight Riders on track with 39 off 24 balls and the hosts were always in the box seat with wickets in hand.
Munro rode his luck with a leading edge or two flying clear of fielders, before he opened the shoulders to hit Rayad Emrit for three sixes in the 17th over which conceded 27 to make the game safe for Knight Riders captain Dwayne Bravo and coach Simon Katich.
Munro was earlier named in the CPL tournament team, alongside Phillips who had a big few weeks for Jamaica Tallawahs.
Phillips scored 457 runs from 11 innings at a strike rate of 147 to push a strong case for one of the two available spots for the Black Caps T20 squad to face Pakistan.
He saved his best innings until last, scoring 103 off 63 balls in last week’s eliminator final which the Tallawahs lost to St Kitts and Nevis despite scoring 191-5.
Also on the run charts, McCullum finished fifth with 343 from 13 innings (strike rate 141), Ronchi scored 243 from 12 innings (strike rate 125), and Ross Taylor of the Tallawahs hit 220 runs from nine innings at a strike rate of 125.
Munro, McCullum, Ronchi and Mitchell McClenaghan are the Kiwis confirmed for the next T20 tournament on the circuit, the inaugural Afghanistan Premier League in the United Arab Emirates from October 5-21.