The St Kitts and Nevis Patriots played their way into the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final, after deafting the Guyana Amazon Warriors by 7 wickets.
Put in to bat first, the Warriors got off to an average start. After striking sweetly, Brandon King was dismissed by Naseem Shah for 27 from 17.
As Chanderpaul Hemraj persisted, Shoaib Malik was once again stumped after chipping down the track for a shot, departing on 6.
Nicholas Pooran also looked fiery, smashing a quick-fire 26 from 14, but himself and Hemraj went back to the dug- out, as a result of the bowling of Jon-Russ Jaggesar.
With Shimron Hetmyer at the other end, the Warriors’ lower order fell like dominoes, with small contributions from the likes Odean Smith, Anthony Bramble, Romario Shepherd and Naveen Ul- Haq.
Some late fireworks from Hetmyer (45 from 20), inclusive of 4 sixes and 2 fours, got the Warriors to a respectable score of 178-9 from their 20. But as fate would have it, it wasn’t enough to get the Warriors across the line.
Whether or not their bowling performance was dismal, the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots made light work of the required total, getting to 181- 3 in 17.5 overs.
Two massive partnerships from the Patriots put a dent in the Amazon Warriors’ hopes of making it to the final. At the top of the order, Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis put on 72 runs; before the ‘Gayle storm’ was interrupted by Kevin Sinclair after hitting 42 from 27.
It was until the 16th over that the second wicket of the innings came Odean Smith shattered the stumps behind Dwayne Bravo. Bravo’s 34 from 31, contributed to an 88- run partnership with Lewis. Soon after, Smith sent Fabian Allen packing for a duck but it was a little too late for the local franchise.
Guyanese Sherfane Rutherford chipped in 11 from 9, as Lewis steered the Patriots home and rose to the top of the CPL’s run- scorers list with 77 from 39.
The Patriots will lock horns with the St Lucia Kings tomorrow morning, for the final of the 9th edition of the tournament.
