St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots earned their first win of the 2023 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a thrilling four-wicket victory over the St. Lucia Kings.
The Patriots won the toss and chose to field first, with 22-year-old spinner Ashmead Nedd producing a clinical spell to help restrict the Kings to 149-7 after 20 overs. Shadrack Descarte was the stand-out in the King’s innings, scoring 43 off 31 balls.
The chase by the Patriots was dominated by a sparkling innings from Andre Fletcher, his 93 not out taking the Patriots over the finish line with one ball to spare.
Despite the King’s spin trio of Khary Pierre, Roston Chase and Sikandar Raza taking wickets throughout the innings, it was not to be enough as the Patriots got over the line.
Kings opened their innings with the experienced duo of Colin Munro and Johnson Charles, however, Munro would lose his wicket in the third over, before Sean Williams and Chase would both be dismissed in quick succession to leave the Kings reeling at 22-3 after five overs.
Nedd and Benny Howell were particularly effective with the ball during this period. Charles and Descarte would then rebuild the innings for the Kings, a 73-run partnership helping to drive the side to 149-7 after 20 overs.
Evin Lewis would lose his wicket to the spin of Chase in the second over of the Patriot’s chase. Kings would utilise further spin in the Powerplay, with Pierre taking the wickets of Will Smeed and Jyd Goolie.
Despite this, Fletcher launched a counter-attack to give the Patriots hope of a victory. Raza then took the big wicket of Sherfane Rutherford to set up a tense finale.
Alzarri Joseph would concede just one over in a magnificent penultimate over to swing the momentum towards the Kings, but it was eventually an injured Fletcher, who scored a six in the final over to chase down the 150-run target with one ball remaining.
Kings will be hoping to bounce back on Sunday evening as they face Trinbago Knight Riders. (CPL)
