St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 150/6 (Fletcher 93*, Rutherford 17; Pierre 2/18, Chase 2/25) beat Saint Lucia Kings 149/7 (Descarte 43, Charles 42; Nedd 2/14, Howell 2/31) by four wickets
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots earned their first win of the 2023 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a thrilling four-wicket victory over the Saint Lucia Kings.
The Patriots won the toss and chose to field first, with 22-year-old spinner Ashmead Nedd producing a clinical spell to help restrict the Saint Lucia Kings to 149/7 after 20 overs. Shadrack Descarte was the stand-out in the King’s innings, scoring 43 off 31 balls.
The chase by the Patriots was dominated by a sparkling innings from Andre Fletcher, his 93 not out taking the Patriots over the finish line with one ball to spare, despite the King’s spin trio of Khary Pierre, Roston Chase and Sikandar Raza taking wickets throughout the innings, it was not to be enough as the Patriots got over the line.
Saint Lucia Kings opened their innings with the experienced duo of Colin Munro and Johnson Charles, however, Munro would lose his wicket in the third over, before Sean Williams and Roston Chase would both be dismissed in quick succession to leave the Kings reeling at 22-3 after five overs. Ashmead Nedd and Benny Howell were particularly effective with the ball during this period. Johnson Charles and Shadrack Descarte would then rebuild the innings for the Kings, a 73-run partnership helping to drive the side to 149/7 after 20 overs.
Evin Lewis would lose his wicket to the spin of Roston Chase in the second over of the Patriot’s chase. Saint Lucia Kings would utilise further spin in the powerplay, with Khary Pierre taking the wickets of Will Smeed and Jyd Goolie. Despite this, Andre Fletcher launched a counter-attack to give the Patriots hope of a victory. Sikandar Raza then took the big wicket of Sherfane Rutherford to set up a tense finale.
Alzarri Joseph would concede just one over in a magnificent penultimate over to swing the momentum towards the Kings, but it was eventually Andre Fletcher, who was battling injury, who scored a six in the final over to chase down the 150-run target with one ball remaining.
Saint Lucia Kings will be hoping to bounce back tomorrow evening as they face Trinbago Knight Riders.