CPL 2017: Trinbago Knight Riders Win Second Title by 3 Wickets, Kevon Cooper Stars in First Brian Lara Academy Final

Trinbago Knight Riders won their second Caribbean Premier League title on 9 September 2017 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad — the first CPL final staged at this venue. TKR beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots by 3 wickets (with 6 balls to spare) in the CPL Season 5 final. Patriots scored 135/6; TKR chased it at 136/7. Kevon Cooper took 2/12 and scored an unbeaten 29 — bowling and batting contributions that earned him Player of the Match. Chadwick Walton (Guyana Amazon Warriors) won Player of the Tournament with 458 runs despite Guyana not reaching the final.

Kevon Cooper: 2/12 and 29* — the All-Round Match-Winner

Kevon Cooper's performance in the CPL 2017 final — 2 wickets for 12 runs with his right-arm medium pace, then 29* with the bat in the chase to help seal the victory — was the all-round contribution that made him Player of the Match in a tight 3-wicket result. Cooper, the Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies medium-pace bowling all-rounder, was a consistent CPL performer across multiple TKR seasons — his ability to contribute across both departments making him valuable in the death-overs and lower-order hitting phases where franchise T20 matches are frequently won. The 2017 final was played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy for the first time as a CPL final venue — a ground that would subsequently become a regular CPL hosting location.

Chadwick Walton: 458 Runs — Player of the Tournament from the Warriors

Chadwick Walton's CPL 2017 Player of the Tournament — 458 runs at an average of 41.63 and a strike rate of 145.85 for Guyana Amazon Warriors across 12 matches — was another example of a non-finalist player winning the CPL's season-long individual recognition. Walton, Jamaica's right-handed wicketkeeper-batter who had represented West Indies across multiple formats, produced a full-season batting campaign that combined the power hitting at the top of the order with the consistency required to accumulate 458 runs. Sohail Tanvir (Guyana Amazon Warriors) took 17 wickets to be the CPL's top wicket-taker — again from a team that did not reach the final.

CPL 2017 in Context

CPL Season 5 (2017) was played in September across multiple Caribbean island venues, with the finals week staged in Trinidad. The competition's format — six franchises representing different Caribbean territories — meant the final's staging in Trinidad gave TKR a degree of home advantage that contributed to the strong crowd atmosphere that the Brian Lara Cricket Academy provided for its inaugural CPL final. The 3-wicket margin in the final — TKR winning off the penultimate over — reflected how competitive the game remained until the end, with Cooper's all-round contribution the decisive individual factor.