A superb bowling spell from David Wiese helped Saint Lucia Kings gain their fifth win of the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and end any chance of the Barbados Royals qualifying for the semi-finals in the process.

The Royals won the toss and captain Jason Holder chose to field first, which looked like a good decision as the Kings lost two wickets in the Powerplay to the superb Mohammad Amir. However, Saint Lucia Kings captain Faf du Plessis once again produced a masterful performance, scoring 84 runs to take his side to a commanding 175 for 6.

Despite a strong start in reply, the Royals were sent into disarray in the ninth over as Wiese took three wickets, Johnson Charles, Shai Hope and Glenn Phillips all fell within five balls. Despite a late fightback from Holder and Hayden Walsh, it was not enough and the side finished on 154 for 8. 

Saint Lucia Kings had reshuffled their batting order for this game, with Mark Deyal opening, yet it was to have little effect as both Andre Fletcher and Deyal were back in the pavilion after three overs, with Amir once again getting early wickets. It was left to du Plessis to build a big score, scoring 84 from 54 balls, partnering effectively with Tim David. A late cameo from Keemo Paul with the bat saw the Kings reach a substantial total. 

The Royals lost Kyle Mayers in the third over but rebuilt with Charles and Hope looking confident at the crease. However, after three wickets fell in an over, they were unable to recover, losing more wickets as the run rate increased, notably Holder, who was looking dangerous on 34 runs off 24 balls. A rain delay saw their innings reduced by one over, and Walsh resumed play with a few boundaries to keep his side’s hopes alive. However, Wiese struck again and took Walsh’s wicket in the 19th over, his fifth wicket of the game,  giving the Kings the crucial win.

With this loss, Barbados Royals can no longer qualify for Tuesday’s semi-finals and will be playing for pride when they face the Saint Lucia Kings once again in their final group game tomorrow.

Guyana Amazon Warriors moved back into the top four of the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) table with a 17-run victory over the Saint Lucia Kings.

The Amazon Warriors won the toss and elected to bat first, but they had to overcome an early wobble to post a competitive total led by Brandon King’s enterprising 77.

In reply, the Kings looked as if they were in cruise control when Roston Chase and Tim David put together a big partnership but excellent death bowling tightened the screws and the Kings succumbed to the pressure.

Having been supplanted in the top four by Jamaica Tallawahs earlier in the day, Guyana needed a win to reignite their competition. However, three early wickets in the PowerPlay put them on the backfoot as Wahab Riaz and Jeavor Royal made the early breakthroughs.

 King came to the Amazon Warriors rescue with his first Hero CPL 50 of the season but other than Nicholas Pooran’s 25 no batsmen was able to stick with King.

Once King fell for his sparkling 77, Odean Smith was able to add some maximums to take Guyana to a challenging total of 151.

Saint Lucia Kings were circumspect in their early reply and found themselves three wickets down with 43 runs on the board.  Gudakesh Motie’s parsimonious spin bowling saw him take 2 for 12 from his four overs to keep the Amazon Warriors well in the hunt.

Roston Chase and Tim David put together a boundary-laden partnership of 75 from 63 balls but just as it seemed they would take the Kings home, Naveen Ul-Haq and Odean Smith bowled four excellent overs to seal two crucial points for the Amazon Warriors.

Trinbago Knight Riders cruised to victory in their 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) encounter with Jamaica Tallawahs, winning by a commanding 75 runs. 

The Tallawahs won the toss and opted to field first. Trinbago Knight Riders initially struggled to score runs as they were restricted by Imad Wasim and Veerasammy Permaul, but a late onslaught from captain Kieron Pollard and Tim Seifert ensured they reached 167-4 after the duo blasted 28 runs in the final over.

Jamaica Tallawahs struggled to build partnerships amidst some fantastic bowling from Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul and Ali Khan as they finished 92 all out against the defending champions. 

Trinbago Knight Riders got off to a slow start as Lendl Simmons and Hero CPL debutant Leonardo Julien batted patiently. The Tallawahs were firmly in control through some disciplined bowling, but Seifert coming in the 18th over changed the complexion of the game as he smashed 24 runs off just 8 balls, his partnership with Pollard amounting to a remarkable 62 runs off 20 deliveries. 

The Tallawah’s response was hindered by the returning Khan, making his first appearance of this year’s Hero CPL, as he took three wickets in the Powerplay for just two runs, including that of both openers, Kennar Lewis and Haider Ali. Spinners Narine, Akeal Hosein and Khary Pierre further stifled the Tallawahs, with Khan returning later on in the match to pick up his fourth wicket of the day.

Trinbago Knight Riders now have four wins in this year’s Hero CPL as they look to defend their title 

Jamaica Tallawahs earned their second victory of the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a six-wicket victory over the Barbados Royals.

The Royals won the toss and opted to bat, with Azam Khan’s fluent 50 off just 30 balls taking them to 151 for 8. 

However, the Jamaica Tallawahs were able to chase the target in 17.4 overs through the sublime batting of Kennar Lewis, his innings of 89 the highest score of the tournament so far, supported by the graceful play of Sharmarh Brooks, who hit 47 not out off 26 balls. 

Barbados Royals had found themselves in early trouble, losing key batsmen Shai Hope and Kyle Mayers in successive balls in the Powerplay to Fidel Edwards, who was making his first appearance in this year’s Hero CPL. 
A recovery mission was led by Azam and Phillips; the pair putting on a partnership of 71 runs off 51 balls to build a foundation for the innings. Joshua Bishop then struck 18 off 8 balls at the back end of the innings to take his side to a respectable total. 

Migael Pretorius was the standout bowler for the Tallawahs, taking four wickets, while Rovman Powell led by example with three excellent catches in the field.  

Tallawahs response was led by Lewis, who powered the innings despite his team losing early wickets to the spin of Joshua Bishop, including captain Powell, who was dismissed by a superb piece of fielding as Jason Holder held on to his shot with one hand at long-off.  

Barbados Royals will count themselves unlucky as star bowler Mohammad Amir had to leave the field injured during the second innings. The win takes the Jamaica Tallawahs up to second in the Hero CPL standings.

Barbados Royals got their first win of the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a comfortable 15 run victory over the Jamaica Tallawahs.

The Royals won the toss and opted to bat first and Glenn Phillips ensured that they put a competitive total on the board with an unbeaten 56 from 46 balls.

In reply, the Tallawahs chase was over before it really began as they lost four wickets in the PowerPlay and as a result never kept pace with the run rate.

The Royals opted to make a change to their opening pair – with Shai Hope partnering with Johnson Charles and it appeared to work with them putting on a 32-run partnership from 20 balls.

However, once Hope was dismissed it sparked a flurry of wickets that left Barbados teetering at 48 for 3 at the end of PowerPlay. It should have been even worse but Haider Ali dropped Glenn Phillips when he was on 2 runs.

 Phillips punished that mistake in the back end of the Barbados innings hitting a half-century with 56 runs from 46 balls and he was ably assisted by Raymon Reifer as they put on a partnership worth 79 runs.

161 always looked like 15 runs too many and the Tallawahs got their chase off to the worst possible start losing four wickets inside the PowerPlay.

Some good bowling and electric fielding by Hayden Walsh Jr had the Tallawahs on the back foot throughout.

Carlos Braithwaite and Shamarh Brooks threatened to bring them back into the game with a 66-run partnership but a double strike from Reifer got rid of Braithwaite and Andre Russell in the same over.

Despite some late blows from Miguel Pretorius that made the last few overs interesting there was always too much for the Tallawahs to do once Russell had departed.

A solid opening partnership between Evin Lewis and Devon Thomas helped St Kitts & Nevis Patriots make light work of an insufficient total from Guyana Amazon Warriors to secure an 8-wickets win at the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on Saturday.

 Batting first, the Warrior put up 146 for 8 in their 20 overs, but in pursuit, the Patriots, who were anchored by a stunning opening stand of 113 between Lewis and Thomas, only lost two wickets to secure an easy second win.

The Warriors won the toss and elected to bat, but they struggled to get their innings underway in the face of some tidy bowling from the Patriots. Dominic Drakes was the star but there were excellent spells inside the PowerPlay from Sheldon Cottrell and Paul van Meekeren.

It was Cottrell who got the first breakthrough when he had Brandon King caught by Sherfane Rutherford off a leading edge. The Warriors once again pushed Odean Smith up the order as a pinch hitter but he didn’t have the same success as in the first game against the Knight Riders, falling for a seven-ball duck.

  Wickets continued to fall throughout the Warriors innings, and they found themselves 75 for 5 in the 12th over with Drakes finishing with 3 for 26 and Fawad Ahmed claiming 2 for 33.

However, some lusty blows from Nicholas Pooran and a measured innings from Mohammad Hafeez got them to a respectable total. 

In pursuit, Thomas and Lewis were in fine form, and they made the Guyana total look under par as they batted with controlled aggression to put the Patriots in complete control of the chase.

There were few stumbles for the Patriots as Evin Lewis top-scored with 62 from 39 balls, an innings that guided his team to an eight-wicket victory with eight balls to spare.

West Indies fast bowler, Alzarri Joseph, is set to join the St Lucia Zouks for the upcoming Caribbean Premier League season, after not being retained by St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.

The 24-year-old quick has been a part of the Patriots franchise since 2016.  Joseph did, however, struggle last seasons, claiming just three wickets from seven matches, at an expensive 9.29. In 2019, the pace bowler captured 9, the third most on the team, with an economy rate of 7.75.

Late last week, the Patriots announced that they had retained Evin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cottrell, Rayad Emrit, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Joshua Da Silva, and Dominic Drakes.

Joseph is currently taking part in the English County Championships where he is currently representing Worcestershire.

This season’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which bowls off on August 28, will be held in its entirety on the island of St Kitts & Nevis.  This year could mark the return of fans, with fully vaccinated patrons expected to be allowed to attend a half capacity Warner Park venue.  The Patriots have never won the CPL but went to the final of the competition in 2017.

The upcoming edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) set to be held entirely on the island of St Kitts & Nevis and bowls off on August 28.

Due to the threat posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the entire 2020 edition of the tournament was held in Trinidad and Tobago, under strict COVID-19 protocols.

In several respects, the tournament was a success with the event successfully being delivered to a record audience of over 500 million.  The Trinbago Knightriders were eventually crowned champions on their own patch.

St Kitts and Nevis’ Warner Park has been the scene of some of the most iconic matches in Hero CPL history.  Fans were treated to Chris Gayle’s brilliant hundred against the Jamaica Tallawahs in 2019 and Andre Russell’s even more explosive century against the Trinbago Knight Riders in 2016. There have also been some amazing matches, not least the game that went to a Super Over finish between St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and the Knight Riders in 2019.

This year’s tournament takes on extra significance with it taking place in the lead up to the ICC T20 World Cup and both West Indies and overseas players will be using the opportunity to push for selection for their international teams.

 “We are delighted to be able to announce that we will be having the Hero CPL in St Kitts & Nevis in 2021 and we would like to thank those involved in welcoming the tournament to this wonderful country,” Pete Russell, Hero CPL’s COO, said.

“As was demonstrated during the 2020 tournament the CPL is a massive boost for the host country with US$51.5million delivered in sponsorship value for Trinidad & Tobago. We are really looking forward to giving St Kitts & Nevis the exposure they deserve.”

  Experienced fast bowler Fidel Edwards has been tipped to make a return to the West Indies squad, ahead of the Sri Lanka T20 series, which could mark his first appearance for the team in over eight years.

The 39-year-old pace bowler last suited up for the regional team against Sri Lanka, at Pallekele, in 2012.  Edwards has been unavailable for selection after signing a Kolpak deal in 2015.  However, the player became available again with the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union and the termination of such contracts.

Earlier this year, the player announced his availability for the West Indies and also took part in the IPL and Abu Dhabi T10 League.  Despite being one of the oldest active players, in the sport, Edwards has lost none of the pace he has always been noted for and is cable of exceeding 90mph deliveries.  His pace and guile were very much on display in a fiery over against in-form young compatriot Nicholas Pooran during the T10 league.

The Barbadian-born right-arm pacer has played 20 T20 internationals for the West Indies and claimed 16 wickets.  He has also taken part in 55 Tests and 50 One-day Internationals.  Edwards hopes to be part of the T20 World Cup squad, which will attempt to defend its title in October.