The Trinbago Knight Riders finished in the top spot in the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier thanks to a four-wicket win over St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. The Knight Riders will now face the Saint Lucia Kings in the first semi-final on Tuesday, September 14.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots carried on their unbeaten start in the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a six-wicket victory over the Jamaica Tallawahs.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots maintained their unbeaten start to the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a dramatic six-wicket victory over the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots got their 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign off to a winning start with a comprehensive 21 run win over the Barbados Royals.
Barbados Royals won the toss and put the Patriots in to bat but despite a flurry of early wickets, a fantastic 115 run partnership between DJ Bravo and Sherfane Rutherford ensured the Patriots set the highest total of the tournament so far with 175-5.
In reply, the Patriots were never under threat as they produced an excellent bowling display to keep the shackles on the Royals throughout.
The Royals took full advantage of their decision to field first by removing both openers, Evin Lewis and Devon Thomas, in the first three overs before Oshane Thomas bowled Chris Gayle to leave the Patriots teetering at 38-3 at the end of the PowerPlay.
Bowling with real zip, Oshane Thomas was to strike once more removing Asif Ali in the eighth over as his hostile spell resulted in exemplary figures of 3-22 from his four overs.
Patriots captain Bravo entered at the fall of the fourth wicket and along with Rutherford, they consolidated the innings before exploding into life in the final seven overs.
Their 115-run partnership in 70 balls ensured the Patriots laid a platform for Fabian Allen to add late fireworks at the death to power the Patriots to a very imposing 175-5
Much like the Royals, the Patriots made early inroads with their bowling dismissing both openers inside the first three overs. Although they needed a calamitous run-out to get them on their way when Johnson Charles found himself at the same end as Glenn Phillips.
Through the middle overs, the Patriots put a stranglehold on the game forcing the run rate up and putting pressure on the Royals batsmen to play high-risk shots.
Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers fell without making a significant indent on the scorecard and although Shai Hope anchored the innings with a well-constructed 44 his dismissal with six overs to go left too much to do for the remaining batsmen.
Azam Khan showed a few signs of his potential with some late blows, but the Patriots closed out the Royals innings with minimum fuss.
Scores: St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 175-5 (Rutherford 53, Bravo 47*; Cottrell 2-39, Drakes 2-13) beat Barbados Royals 154-7 (Hope 44, Khan 28; Thomas 3-22, Amir 1-20) by 21 runs.
'We expected more from senior batsmen' - Harper admits disappointment with performance of experienced players against SA
July 09, 2021West Indies chief of selectors, Roger Harper, has admitted that much better performances were expected from the team’s senior batsman after a sub-par showing against South Africa in the recently concluded T20 series.
Despite starting the series in strong fashion, the West Indies were beaten eventually beaten 3-2 after failing to successfully chase a target of close to 170 in three of five matches.
Fabian Allen had the team’s highest average with 67 in four matches, followed by Evin Lewis with 35.60 in five and Andre Fletcher 32.50 from two matches. However, there will have been major concerns about some of the team’s seasoned batting stars who struggled to find a way into the series.
Veteran batsman Chris Gayle played four games and averaged just 18.66, with a high score of 32. Andre Russell averaged 15.50, also in five games, with a high score of 25, team captain Pollard had a high score of 51, but also struggled, managing to average just 22 in five matches.
A few of the team's younger, but seasoned T20 players also struggled, with Shimron Hetmyer averaging 19 and Nicholas Pooran 17.75.
The panel of selectors has come under pressure in some quarters for picking the veteran’s trio of Gayle, Fidel Edwards, and Darren Bravo. However, while Edwards picked up two wickets in two matches and Bravo was the leading wicket-taker with 10, the spotlight has continued to shine on Gayle’s struggles.
“Certainly, Bravo was the leading wicket-taker and Fidel played a couple of games and started to get into stride in the second game. But from a batting perspective we expect quite a bit more from the senior guys,” Harper told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“Maybe we just got carried away with the manner and the method that we used to win that first game from a batting perspective and just thought that we could continue in the same vein and found ourselves in a hole in the middle overs because South Africa adjusted their approach.”
West Indies made it 2-2 in the five-match Twenty20 series against South Africa on Thursday, captain Kieron Pollard top-scoring with 51 and Dwayne Bravo taking four wickets.
The Windies posted 167-6 and successfully defended the total to ensure everything is still left to play for in Saturday's final match in the T20 series.
South Africa, who last won a T20 series in March 2019 against Sri Lanka, have not successfully chased a target above 160 since February 2018 when they beat India.
West Indies enjoyed a superb opening over, plundering 20 from the bowling of Aiden Markram – their most in the first over of a T20 and the most by any team batting first in this format.
South Africa responded well to that early setback, however, taking six wickets in the next 15 overs, with George Linde in particularly impressive form, the 29-year-old putting in the most economical performance of his T20 career, conceding just 16 runs in four overs.
The Proteas undermined their efforts in the closing stages as they conceded 66 runs in the final four overs.
Pollard and Fabian Allen scored six sixes in that period, while the former hit three in three balls off Kagiso Rabada, who bowled his most expensive T20 over.
The impressive Pollard brought up a sixth T20 half-century and his highest score in seven innings as Lungi Ngidi's (0-48) two death overs cost 30 runs.
Allen suffered what looked like a dislocated shoulder as he tried to cut off a Temba Bavuma sweep as South Africa attempted to start their chase strongly, with his overs made up for by Pollard and Andre Russell.
Quinton de Kock did his best to drive his team forward, the former captain scoring a second successive half-century (60) and a sixth T20 fifty in his last 15 matches, but no other South Africa batter scored more than 20.
Bravo rolls back the years
Bravo made light of Allen's absence with a superb display. He took the wickets of Linde, de Kock, Tabraiz Shamsi and Ngidi in 12 balls in the closing stages of the match to eventually finish with career-best figures of 4-19.
Rabada sums up Proteas' woes
South Africa's chances of victory collapsed during a dismal final four overs, with Kagiso Rabada particularly generous. His penultimate over of the innings proved to be the most expensive at 25 runs, while he did not complete a full quota of four overs for the first time in a T20 match since his debut in 2014.