Andre Fletcher’s destructive knock helped St Kitts and Nevis Patriots (SNP) to register their first win in the CPL. They defeated St Lucia Kings (SLK) by 4 wickets.
SLK scored 149/7 in 20 overs and SNP chased down the target in 19.5 overs and made 150/6.
It was the Patriots first win after six consecutive losses. They lost their last match against Barbados Royals (BR) by a stormy innings of Rahkeem Cornwall in a batsman’s paradise pitch by 8 wickets. Whereas it was Raza’s first loss as a captain as he won his first captainship match by defeating BR by 90 runs.
The Patriots after winning the toss invited Kings to bat first.
Kings didn’t get a good start as they lost Colin Munro (10 runs) in the 3rd over. This didn’t stop here and they started losing wickets at a regular interval which eventually made it hard for them to establish a good partnership.
Johnson Charles (42 runs) and Sadrack Descarte (43 runs) provided some stability to the team as they both put 73 runs for the 4th wicket. But after their departure remaining players find it hard to pull out. Sikander Raza (22 runs) hit a couple of sixes in the death overs and finally Kings settled with the score of 149 runs in 20 overs by losing 7 wickets.
Ashmead Nedd bowled a brilliant spell as he gave away only 14 runs in his 4 overs and took 2 wickets. Benny Howell also gets 2 wickets. Corbin Bosch and Oshane Thomas took 1 wicket each.
The Patriots also didn’t get a good start and they were also losing wickets in quick succession. At one time they lost 3 wickets in just 49 runs. But Andre Fletcher (93 runs) stood like a pillar in one end and took their team to victory for the first time in this year’s league. He remained unbeaten at the end. He hits 6 fours and 5 sixes in his innings.
Khary Pierre, Roston Chase and Sikander Raza took 2 wickets each.
Despite getting the victory, the Patriots have lost so many matches that they are in last spot with 4 points in 9 matches. Whereas Kings are present at 3rd spot with 8 points in 7 matches.
Andre Fletcher, SNP, Player of the Match, Sherfane Rutherford speaking on behalf of him
“It was a special knock, given we are only a team with just a few batters in form. He did very well and got us our first win. It’s a hamstring injury, not sure how long he will be out. Hopefully he can play the next game.”
Sikander Raza, SLK Captain
“I don’t think it was too bad a total, we were probably 10 runs short. We got off to a bad start. The first 10 overs belong to them. I thought Fletcher was very professional and very mature. Pierre had done really well. He didn’t start because of the combinations we wanted. Gives me immense pleasure to see him bowl well. Wind plays a huge factor here. I thought we would back Chase to win it for us in the final over if Fletcher got out.”
Evin Lewis, SNP Captain
“Feel very good. Very excited with the bowling effort, we used the wicket and bowled the perfect lengths. Nedd was extremely good, back him to come good in the powerplay and he did well. Fletcher was struggling towards the end but he carried on, very happy for him. Feeling very happy. We would be trying to get the victory and we got it. I have been doing everything, hopefully I’ll get a score.”