St. Lucia Kings, Jamaica Kingsmen Pick Up Wins

I owe everyone an apology regarding CPL coverage the last couple of days. Friday I had every intention of covering Kings/Falcons, until I realized too late that Willow TV was not going to complete coverage of the game. I have since rectified the situation by picking up Willow’s online product so that television coverage isn’t a problem anymore.

So how did events unfold at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St. Lucia and Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica? Let’s take a look.

On a night where rain delayed the toss, and then briefly threatened to see this game end as a no contest, Matthew Forde’s late innings with the bat complimented what he did with the ball in hand as St. Lucia Kings would win by 3 wickets in a game where 16 wickets fell in 26 overs on a breezy night in Gros Islet.

For the first time in this CPL, St. Lucia decided to bowl from the toss, and Matthew Forde would reward Roston Chase’s decision. Bowling 3 overs in the power play, he would get the wickets of Evin Lewis and Tim Robinson on consecutive balls, and the big wicket of power hitting Rahkeem Cornwall with the last ball of the power play. Forde’s 3-17 in his 3 overs in the power play saw the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons 44-3.

From there the collapse was on. In the 25 balls before drinks, the Falcons would score 11 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Roston Chase would get the wicket of Moeen Ali, before being handed a gift when Fabian Allen started running on a ball that didn’t get through the first line of defense, Darren Nedd throwing to Gous to remove the bails as Allen just stood in the middle of the wicket.

Chase would end his 4 over spell 2-7 as runs dried up, Matthew Forde would pick up a 4th wicket late to end his spell 4-29. 25 runs in the last 3 overs before the rains returned in earnest could only get the Falcons to 98-9.

After a delay of nearly 1 hour 20 minutes, the Falcons innings were ended and St. Lucia had a reduced target of 84 to obtain in 15 overs.

Jayden Seales would give the Falcons half a chance, getting the wicket of Roston Chase with the last ball of the first over. 2 balls into the 2nd over, the rains came again and reduced the chase a further 7 overs, the Kings now needing 52 in total, 47 runs from 41 deliveries. Suddenly for the Kings it was go time.

Once Andries Gous was caught at mid on for 7 to end the 2nd over, the Falcons started to have belief they could win. That belief would grow fast after Shamar Springer took 2 wickets in the 4th over, Joshua James matching that haul in the 5th. Suddenly, the Kings were 6 down and still needed 31 runs from the last 3 overs to avoid a shocking defeat.

Matthew Forde would get the innings back on track with a boundary and a max before going for 11 from 7 deliveries. Once Joshua Bishop got to the crease the mission in the middle was simple, keep Bishop on strike. Shadley van Schalkwyk did his part, even getting a six in the process. Bishop did the rest. Needing 8 from the final over, Bishop would find a boundary with the first ball. After taking 2 dot deliveries, Bishop would win with a 6, the first time in the chase the Kings were ever above par.

Saturday saw the Jamaica Kingsmen play host to Trinbago Knight Riders. The Knight Riders were playing their first game in a week having won their opening contest.

On a night where the bat was on top of the bowling, it would be the Kingsmen using a 82 run power play and 93 run first wicket partnership between Kirk McKenzie and Reeza Hendricks to power the Kingsmen to a 5 wicket win.

It would be a slow start for the Knight Riders, the Kingsmen sending them into bat first. Colin Munro and Alex Hales only able to put up 38 in a power play that saw Andre Russell take the wicket of Munro. On a ground known for runs, half the overs in the opening 10 went for 6 runs or less.

Vitel Lawes may have been rocked for 51 in his 4 over spell, but he would pick up the wicket of Alex Hales coming out of drinks. After Hunain Shah limited Nicholas Pooran and Kieron Pollard to 2 runs in the 12th over, the Knight Riders were floundering at 77-2. That didn’t last for long. After Lawes last over went for 25, Odean Smith was taken for 16 as the first true partnership of the innings formed.

A 14 ball spell in go time would see the Knight Riders collapse from 137-2 to 156-6. Pooran would be the first to fall at deep square before Pollard would fall at long off, both their innings ending on 44. Matthew Breetzke would be busted LBW on a switch shot gone horribly wrong before Terrance Hinds chopped on to start the 19th over. If it wasn’t for a rapid fire 19 from 8 by Sunil Narine, the total would have been worse off. When the 20 were up, even at 182-6, the Knight Riders felt about 15 runs light.

Kirk McKenzie was moved up the order to partner with Reeza Hendricks at the top of the order. McKenzie rewarded the faith Rovman Powell had in the Jamaican. After 2 overs where both got their feet under them at the crease McKenzie would begin to tee off at will. It would take 19 balls for McKenzie to pick up a half century. Between the pair, 7 fours would be paired with 6 sixes as the power play got the Kingsmen to 82 without loss.

The only bowler who had any consistency in slowing the Kingsmen chase was Usman Tariq, His unorthodox delivery got McKenzie to mistime a swing with the last ball of the 7th over, his innings ending on 69 and getting a standing obviation from the Sabina Park faithful. Shayan Jahangir was moved down to 3 in the order after his struggles early in the campaign. After he was bowled in the 9th over for 2 I expect he’ll slide down the order further.

After drinks Usman Tariq would end the innings of Hendricks on 37. The four over spell he would bowl would end 3-21. The biggest thing that hurt the Knight Riders in the field was the lack of wickets from Sunil Narine. While he went 0-21, Rovman Powell, Keacy Carty and Andre Russell managed Narine’s last 2 overs without the loss of a wicket. When Terrance Hinds and Nathan Edwards were called upon in go time for the Knight Riders, Powell and Russell were ready to strike. a 45 run burst in the 16th and 17th overs ended the game as a contest, the Kingsmen winning comfortably by 5 wickets with 8 balls to spare.