St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 180 for 5 (Lewis 79, Brooks 35*, Narine 3-27) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 146 (Munro 46, Amla 33, Santokie 3-27) by 34 runs.
A season-high 79 by opener Evin Lewis provided the springboard for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots to upend Trinbago Knight Riders by 34 runs on night two of the Caribbean Premier League’s Florida leg. The crowd, about 5,000-strong, were largely rooting for Knight Riders, but there was still plenty of love for Lewis’ entertaining display of power hitting.
It began in the second over when he laced three fours off Ronsford Beaton. Two overs later, he tucked into Kevon Cooper for a pair of sixes before giving Dwayne Bravo similar treatment with two more that cleared the ropes. His sixth six, smashed off Nikita Miller over midwicket in the seventh over, brought up his half-century in 23 balls. Lewis put on 65 for the first wicket with JJ Smuts before both men fell to Sunil Narine, who also dismissed Lendl Simmons to clear out the Patriots’ top order.
By that time, though, the heavy damage had been done and Jonathan Carter teamed with Shamarh Brooks to drive home the advantage, putting on an unbeaten 58 for the sixth wicket. Brooks drove Bravo over the long-on boundary twice in the 19th for two of his three sixes, en route to 35 off 19 balls. The late flourish took Patriots to a score of 180, which proved to be comfortably out of Knight Riders’ reach.
Brendon McCullum’s poor season with the bat continued as he notched up his fifth single-digit score in six games, splicing a drive off Sheldon Cottrell to mid-off for 1 in the second over. Lewis’ great night continued when he ran out a well-set Hashim Amla with a direct hit from cover for 33 in the sixth.
Colin Munro’s reprieve on 11 in the ninth over off Krishmar Santokie provided a glimmer of hope for the Knight Riders’ chase. The New Zealander blasted Jonathan Carter for a four and two sixes in the 12th in a bid to keep pace with a required run rate that had climbed above 10 per over. His luck ran out in the 13th, though, when Santokie finally claimed him for 46 after a dubious leg before decision. That left Knight Riders on 103 for 4 in 12.5 overs.
Samuel Badree made it three wickets in four balls for the Patriots by dismissing Umar Akmal at long-off and knocking back Denesh Ramdin’s stumps with a googly, off the first two balls of the 14th. Santokie also claimed two in two in the 16th, as Bravo struck a full toss to long-on and Kevon Cooper followed by pulling a short ball to midwicket for a golden duck. Cottrell returned for his fourth over in the 18th and dismissed Narine and Beaton to end the match with the Knight Riders all out for 146 in 18 overs.
The Knight Riders’ loss prevented them from clinching a playoff spot and helped keep Barbados Tridents’ hopes alive. Tridents face Guyana Amazon Warriors in the second game of Saturday’s double-header. A win for Tridents, who sit at fifth place with seven points, could put them ahead of Knight Riders and St Lucia Zouks into third place, while a Tridents loss would eliminate them from playoff contention and simultaneously seal playoff berths for Zouks and Knight Riders, who are currently tied for third at eight points.
