St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots claimed their first ever Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title as they defeated the Saint Lucia Kings by three wickets in a closely contested encounter at Warner Park.
The Saint Lucia Kings won the toss and chose to bat, as they did in their semi-final match. Despite losing wickets at key stages of the game, they built a total around the batting of Roston Chase, who stabilised the innings, allowing the likes of Rahkeem Cornwall and Keemo Paul to play with attacking intent and guide them to 159/7.
In what was a dramatic final, the Patriots managed to successfully chase their target with Dominic Drakes the hero with the bat, scoring 48 off 24 balls and securing a remarkable victory with the last ball of the match.
Saint Lucia Kings started their innings with the loss of both captain Andre Fletcher and Mark Deyal in the Powerplay. Cornwall got the innings back on track with some power hitting but the Patriots utilised spin to great effect; Fabian Allen, Jon-Russ Jaggesar and Fawad Ahmed working in unison to pick up three wickets in the middle overs and leave the Kings in peril. Roston Chase anchored the innings and a late burst from Paul, which saw him hit three consecutive sixes in an over as he scored 39 runs off just 21 balls, took the Kings to a challenging total.
It was a dream start for the Kings with the ball, as Chris Gayle was bowled by a Chase delivery, and not long after, Evin Lewis was caught out, with Chase being the fielder. Joshua da Silva and Sherfane Rutherford began to rebuild, but quick wickets, including that of captain DJ Bravo, saw the Patriots in trouble at 95-5. However, things would take a dramatic turn as Drakes recorded his highest ever score in cricket, firing six boundaries to take the Patriots over the line in dramatic fashion with a single off the last ball.
In a contest worthy of any final, the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots prevailed and lifted their maiden Hero CPL title in front of a joyous home crowd.
So unfortunate or maybe regrettable to see that Dominica is the only island not represented in the CPL tournament. It is not that there are no young men in Dominica who cannot play the game, it is the murderous act of these criminals who have killed and buried everything in Dominica namely: sports, agriculture, tourism, religion, fisheries and the list goes on and on. Every damn thing has been murdered except for 60,000 ill fated lost but alive Morrisons who have been jumbled by evil money and other materials
Congratulations 👏. To the St. Kitts Patriots. Overall Cricket won.
It would have been good if the match was played in the night to give cricket lovers who work during the day a chance to watch the game. After all it was the grand finale and i think it should have been played in the night. Nonetheless, congratulations to my favorite team on copping the CPL T20 title for 2021 and hearts off to St. Lucia Kings our neighbors for emerging second.
It was an exciting CPL :
Congratulations to the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots for lifting the CPL trophy for the first time. Commendations are also due to the St. Lucia Kings for not only making it to the Finals but for performing so valiantly.
Here we have two OECS member countries making their people proud and giving them a much needed respite from the daily stresses of life brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The question for me is simply this. Why the people of Dominica are being deprived of all forms of live regional and international sporting events on the island?
Answer: Lack of leadership, foresight and interest by a corrupt, self-absorbed, uncaring, and unintelligent ‘leader’ who doesn”t have the intellectual capacity to even run a bar shop successfully.