In a thrilling final-ball victory, the Saint Lucia Kings defeated the determined St Kitts and Nevis Patriots to secure their first victory of the 2025 CPL.
Jason Holder’s explosive fifty helped SNP, who had already lost their previous two games, bounce back admirably from being beaten in the run chase of 201. However, they were unable to complete the task and lost by three runs as the equation went from four to five.
Johnson Charles and Kyle Mayers shared the PowerPlay honours, and the game got off to a great start. Charles went on the rampage to take on Jason Holder and Fazalhaq Farooqi, scoring 47 off the 60 runs that came in the first six overs, while Mayers put the reigning champions on the defensive very early on by taking two wickets in an over. Once he reached fifty, he was promptly fired, yet the slaughter continued despite his dismissal.
To hold the bowling side at bay, Roston Chase and Tim David worked together to stitch 86 runs for the fourth wicket. Chase was the first to attack, consistently hitting the boundaries and sprinting to 36 off just 21 before reaching a fifty from 30 balls. After initially stuttering to 13 off 13, David, who has been in excellent form, took off with consecutive sixes. He then miscued one after hitting three consecutive hits against Holder. Nevertheless, SNP managed to rally admirably in the last three overs, giving up just 21 runs, after Chase was also dismissed in the previous round.
Then, by dismissing Keon Gaston in the opening over, Andre Fletcher gave his team the perfect start in the run chase of 201. As SNP sped to 42 in just four overs, Mayers would then join in the fun by hitting the boundary three times in a single over. However, David Wiese and Khary Pierre stunned the batting side with a spectacular comeback, taking three wickets between nine deliveries. Also short-lived was Rilee Rossouw, who gave Chase his maiden wicket by top-edgeing a reverse sweep. Before Holder started his assault, SNP was struggling at 66 for 4 after nine overs.
To gradually resurrect the chase, Holder went 4,6,6 against Tabraiz Shamsi to pick 18 from his first over. He then went on to hit another 6 and a 4 against Alzarri Joseph. Holder then rushed to 43 off just 18 at one stage, while Shamsi gave up 13 more in his subsequent over. It didn’t help, though, that Navian Bidaisee had a difficult CPL debut. At one point, despite Holder’s valiant efforts at the other end, he was batting on 9 off 16. Chase came back to dismiss Holder in his last over after he reached a fifty off 23 balls.
It appeared dismal for SNP, especially with Bidaisee struggling, with half the team back in the pavilion, including the in-form Holder. Nevertheless, as Bidaisee finally settled into his rhythm against Shamsi, the equation of 61 off 30 was drastically reduced to 44 off 24. He ultimately found his timing, hitting sixes against Wiese and Joseph to keep SNP in the chase. as Joseph was hurt in the penultimate over and Bidaisee cleared the ropes again as the equation dropped from six to thirteen, it seemed as though the stars were aligning. By then, the equation should have read 6 from 5, and the game should have been in their pocket. However, in a tragic turn of events, Bidaisee scored when Jyd Goolie failed to pick up a run off consecutive deliveries, leaving his team in need of four runs from the last ball. At long-on, David made a pressure catch, and the debutant, who by that point had brought up a hard-fought fifty, was unable to locate the fielder.
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