PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) – Andre Russell and Akeal Hosein produced three-wicket hauls as Trinbago Knight Riders grabbed much needed points with a 26-run victory over Guyana Amazon Warriors here Wednesday night.

Stumbling through the tournament with just a single win in five outings previously, TKR put their poor form behind them to successfully defend 150 and move up to fourth in the standings on five points.

Russell overcame his Twenty20 World Cup snub to snatch three for 16 with his sharp medium pace while left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein picked up three for 36 as Amazon Warriors were bundled out for 124 in the 18th over, to slump to the bottom of the standings.

Only Chandrapaul Hemraj with 28 and captain Shimrom Hetmyer (20) got into the 20s as Amazon Warriors’ struggles continued.

Sent in at Queen’s Park Oval, TKR mustered 150 for eight from their 20 overs with Colin Munro hitting a controlled unbeaten 42 from 37 balls, and Tim Seifert (27) and Sunil Narine (26) chipping in with valuable knocks.

They lost Tion Webster to the first ball of the contest from fast bowler Romario Shepherd (3-24) but Munro, who counted five fours, put on 31 with Nicholas Pooran (15) for the second wicket and a further 51 for the third with Seifert.

Once Munro and Seifert perished in a slide triggered by South African left-arm spinner (4-36) that saw three wickets tumble for 24 runs, the innings never really recovered.

Amazon Warriors also had a shock start to their chase, losing Irishman Paul Stirling to the third ball of the innings without a run on the board before Hemraj, who struck five fours, put on 34 for the second wicket with Colin Ingram (13) to patch things up.

Ingram added a further 28 with Hetmyer for the fourth wicket but Russell, Hosein and off-spinner Narine (2-9) joined forces to wreck the innings as Amazon Warriors lost their last seven wickets for 43 runs.