Hosts St Kitts and Nevis Patriots eked out a three-wicket win over Saint Lucia Kings in a last-ball thriller to claim Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2021 title -- their maiden crown -- at Warner Park here. Saint Lucia Kings won the toss and chose to bat, as they did in their semifinal match. (More Cricket News)
Despite losing wickets at key stages of the game, Saint Lucia posted a decent 159/7 riding on Roston Chase and Rahkeem Cornwall’s 43 each.
In what was a dramatic CPL 2021 final, the Patriots managed to successfully chase their target with Dominic Drakes turning out to be the hero with the bat, scoring 48 off 24 balls and securing a remarkable victory in the last ball of the match.
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Saint Lucia Kings started their innings with the loss of 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 a spot of bother.
Chase then anchored the innings and a late burst from Keemo Paul (39 off 21), which saw him hit three consecutive sixes in an over, took the Kings to a challenging total. It was a dream start for the Kings with the ball as the dangerous Chris Gayle was bowled by a Chase delivery, and not long after, Evin Lewis was caught out, with Chase being the fielder.
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Joshua da Silva and Sherfane Rutherford began to rebuild, but quick wickets, including that of captain Dwayne Bravo, saw the Patriots slip to 95/5. But it was not to be as Drakes recorded his highest ever score, firing six boundaries to take the Patriots over the line in dramatic fashion.
Brief scores: St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 160/7 (Dominic Drakes 48 not out, Joshua da Silva 37; Wahab Riaz 2/36) beat Saint Lucia Kings 159/7 (Rakheem Cornwall 43, Roston Chase 43; Naseem Shah 2/26, Fawad Alam 2/32) by three wickets.
