Patriots beat Warriors to set up CPL final showdown with Kings

St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots will face St. Lucia Kings in the Hero Caribbean Premier League 2021 final after  they thumped Guyana Amazon Warriors by seven wickets in semi-final two on Tuesday afternoon at Warner Park, St. Kitts.

Warriors’ 178-9 proved inadequate, as an Evin Lewis-inspired Patriots romped to victory with 2.1 overs to spare. The defeat ended the Warriors quest for a record sixth appearance in the final.

Lewis, now the tournament’s leading runscorer with 420 runs from 10 innings, anchored the chase with an electrifying 77* off 39 balls, an innings that included eight sixes.

Those maximum hits extended his tournament-leading tally to 38, 13 more than Nicholas Pooran’s 25.

Lewis and fellow left-hander Chris Gayle gave Patriots a fantastic start, blazing to 76 in just 7.2 overs. Gayle, struggling for runs, made 42 off 27 (5x4s, 3x6s), his best score of the season.

Following Gayle’s departure, skipper Dwayne Bravo came in at three and in the company of Lewis they put together 88 in 8.1 overs for the second wicket.

Bravo made 34 off 31 (3x4s, 1×6) and though Fabian Allen fell soon after for a second-ball duck, the game had already gone beyond the reach of the Warriors.

Guyanese Sherfane Rutherford was not out on 11 off nine (1×6) when Lewis finished the game with a boundary to long-on.

Warriors earlier made 178-9 with Shimron Hetmyer hitting four sixes in 45 not out off 20 balls, including three consecutive maximums off Sheldon Cottrell in the final over, which yielded 25 runs.

Openers Brandon King and Chandrapaul Hemraj made 27 each, while Nicholas Pooran scored 26.

Bowling for Patriots, Jon-Ross Jaggesar took 2-19, Fawad Ahmed 2-22, Dominic Drakes 2-27 and Naseem Shah 2-34.

The championship game will bowl off at 10:00h on Wednesday.