In a rematch of last year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final, stellar performances led by captain Faf du Plessis and Matthew Forde helped Saint Lucia Kings comprehensively defeat Saint Kitts and Nevis Patriots by 61 runs on Sunday.
Put in to bat first, skipper Faf du Plessis led from the front in the batting department, notching a ferocious half-century to give the team a blazing start. In what was the last home match for the Kings at the Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium, the bowlers joined in to give the home fans a treat.
The Kings were missing regular spinner, Jeavor Royal, due to a hamstring injury. But that did not deter the attack and the charge was initiated by Matthew Forde, who cleaned up the Patriots’ top order. David Wiese also ended up with three wickets to choke the opposition.
Speedster Alzarri Joseph distanced himself at the top of the wicket-taking charts for the season as the Kings ripped through the Patriots’ batting.
In the first innings, the opening pair of skipper Faf du Plessis and Johnson Charles once again got off to a good start. This time it was the captain leading from the front as the Kings amassed 61 runs in the powerplay, more than half of which came from du Plessis.
Du Plessis was ably supported by Charles in the 86-run partnership. Charles eventually lost his wicket in the ninth over. The man in form departed after another well-made 41 in 32 balls. His wicket, however, saw the momentum slow down as Tim David, who was promoted up the order, and Roshon Primus both departed cheaply.
Faf du Plessis reached his first fifty of the CPL 2022 in the 12th over. However, he lost his wicket in an attempt to take the game by the scruff of the neck, going back after a splendid 60 off 35 balls.
Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, the Kings managed to keep the scoreboard ticking and eventually finished at 161/9 thanks to some hitting by Matthew Forde and David Wiese.
The second innings started with aplomb as Matthew Forde dismissed Andre Fletcher for a duck on the fourth ball of the first over. He continued his onslaught and also claimed the wickets of the free-scoring Evin Lewis and the dangerous Dewald Brevis, all in the first six overs.
Forde’s exploits meant that the Kings had the upper hand. David Wiese joined in the act as he cleaned up a struggling Sherfane Rutherford in the tenth over as he and Darren Bravo attempted to reconstruct the Patriots’ innings.
Roshon Primus and Alzarri Joseph then chipped in to further remove the Patriots from the contest.
Joseph picked up his 11th and 12th wickets of the tournament so far. This meant that the right-arm pacer became the out and out highest wicket-taker of CPL 2022.
Along with the bowling, it was Tim David’s record-breaking effort in the field that further helped the Kings. He took five catches - the joint-most in an innings in the history of CPL. This was David’s last match of the CPL season as he heads to India after earning his maiden call up to the Australian squad.
Forde and Wiese finished with three wickets each, while Alzarri Joseph and Roshon Primus picked two as the Kings won comfortably.
Brief Scores: Saint Lucia Kings 161/9 (Faf du Plessis 60, Dwaine Pretorius 3/37) beat Saint Kitts and Neves Patriots 100 all out (Evin Lewis 24, David Wiese 3/17) by 61 runs.
