St. Kitts & Nevis, Sept 13: The Trinbago Knight Riders finished on top spot of the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League following a four-wicket win over the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. Meanwhile the Patriots finished third in the points table.
Knight Riders will now face the Saint Lucia Kings in the first semi-final on Tuesday 14 September while Patriots take on Guyana Amazon Warriors in the second semi-final on the same day.
Jamaica Tallawahs and Barbados Royals were eliminated.
Kieron Pollard’s brilliant batting combined with the bowling of Ali Khan took the Knight Riders to victory with an over to spare.
Joshua Da Silva opening in place of the injured Devon Thomas made 5h0 in 45 balls, even as Chris Gayle left early.
Sherfane Rutherford and Dwayne Bravo both made 25 and when they perished in quick succession and Patriots lost four wickets in 10 balls and managed only 147 for seven.
Knight Riders were 34 for one at the end of the PowerPlay, losing Lendl Simmons. Then two wickets – Ramdin and Colin Munro – in three balls pushed the Knight Riders innings back. Pollard came in and changed the situation with a 50 in just 20 balls. Though he left soon after, the Knight Riders hung in to win.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 147/7 (Da Silva 50, Bravo 25, Rutherford 25; Ali Khan 3/19, Udana 2/28) lost to Trinbago Knight Riders 150/6 (Pollard 51, Udana 25; F Ahmed 2/16, F Allen 1/9) by four wickets
MoM: Kieron Pollard
Shepherd takes Guyana to a comfortable win
A second straight win over Jamaica Tallawahs confirmed Guyana Amazon Warriors’ place in the 2021 Hero CPL semi-final.
Amazon Warriors won the toss and elected to bat and found themselves in a crisis at 75 for 7 and even a three-figure total looked tough. Then a blistering 72 not out by Romario Shepherd helped them set a target of 143 which Tallawahs could not manage.
Tallawahs once again succumbed to a big defeat and only late hitting from Chris Green prevented a bigger loss.
The Tallawahs reply got off to a poor start when they lost the clean hitting Kennar Lewis and Kirk Mckenzie to a double wicket maiden over from Imran Tahir. Wickets continued to fall as Smith and Shepherd bowled superbly for Guyana. Tallawahs were 42 for 6 and their hopes lay with Carlos Brathwaite and Andre Russell. But it was not to be and they exited the tournament.
Guyana Amazon Warriors 142/7 (Shepherd 72*, Hemraj 21; Wasim 3/15, Green 2/19) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 128 (Green 31, Walton 20; Smith 3/20, Shepherd 3/31) by 14 runs
MoM: Romario Shepherd
St Lucia lose to Barbados but make semi-finals
A remarkable run chase from the Barbados Royals ensured they ended their 2021 Hero CPL with a win against the Saint Lucia Kings. Despite the loss, Saint Lucia Kings, who had five wins for 10 points made it to the semi-finals.
The Royals won the toss and captain Jason Holder chose to field. As Rahkeem Cornwall returned to the Kings line-up and fired 40 runs off 26 balls before Roston Chase (56) continued his fine form Kings got to 190 for six.
Despite encountering problems with the loss of two wickets in the sixth over, Kyle Mayers (81 not out) and Glenn Phillips (80 not out) combined for a remarkable 154 run partnership to take their side to a comfortable eight wicket victory with seven balls to spare.
Saint Lucia Kings 190/6 (Chase 56, Cornwall 40; Mayers 3/39, Thomas 2/32) lost to Barbados Royals 191/2 (Mayers 81*, Phillips 80*; Chase 1/35, Royal 0/3) by eight wickets.
MoM: Kyle Mayers
