Republic Bank CPL: Back to bridesmaids! St Lucia Kings topple Warriors to claim 1st CPL title

A stellar bowling performance from the St Lucia Kings,, backed by a wonderful recovery in their batting, orchestrated by Roston Chase and Aaron Jones, steered the boys in blue to their first-ever Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title in the tournament’s 12-year history.
The Kings had Fortune on their side from the initial stages of the contest as Captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and sent the Warriors in to bat first.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW), similarly to their first two games at home, were forced to end their innings with a much-needed flurry, which set up the defending champions with another 130+ score to defend.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s misguided attempt at finding the boundary in just the third ball of the innings, which eventually found du Plessis’ safe pair of hands at mid-on was, in hindsight, a sign of what was to come from the Amazon Warriors’ batsmen.
Shai Hope, though putting down some balls, looked intent on showing some aggression after the Amazon Warriors were stuck in a rut with seven runs from three overs.

However, he was unable to stick around long enough as Roston Chase chipped his off stump away in the first ball of his spell. Hope departed for 22 from 24, which would, worryingly, become the second-highest score on the GAW sheet.
Moeen Ali went back to the dugout in the following over for 14 and then, Shimron Hetmyer followed just after the drinks break at the 10th over, sending the Guyana National Stadium into silence.
Kevin Sinclair looked good as he began his innings, dispatching Khary Pierre to the boundary twice. But Sinclair thoughtlessly tried to cut Matthew Forde’s delivery in the subsequent rotation and found a diving Ackeem Auguste, who was more than happy to hold on to the catch.

At 82-5 with 15 overs already gone, the defending champions were knee deep in hot water. Keemo Paul guarded his wicket with his life by that point, so much so that many a delivery went abegging as he tried to avoid putting the Warriors into more trouble.
At the other end, Ramon Reifer, who had not done much batting this season, was also in the same predicament. Eventually, Paul was the first to relinquish his wicket for 12 runs after 22 deliveries. Reifer did not last much longer either, but it was no love lost with Romario Shepherd and Dwaine Pretorius now at the crease. Combined, the duo produced 15 runs in the 19th over and another 21 in the 20th to propel the Amazon Warriors to 138-8.
Noor Ahmad was again a crucial piece for the Kings, snaring 3-19 from his 4; every other St Lucian bowler managed one wicket.
Having defended similar scores this season, the belief was there for the defending champions and it showed in their body language when they came out to defend.
Du Plessis and Johnson Charles soon found out why the Warriors weren’t able to free their arms as much as they would’ve liked. In spite of how little it was, the duo was able to eke out runs to go above the Warriors’ rate at that time. But, the inability to just bat freely clearly frustrated Charles, culminating in Shepherd rattling his stumps in the fourth over.

Alongside Auguste, du Plessis tried to keep his troops motivated with a couple of boundaries, but was unable to press on, falling for a run-a- ball 21, even after pulling out a review.
The Amazon Warriors were able to keep their momentum going when Sinclair was handed the ball for the next over. Sinclair brought out his now trademark somersault when he destabilised Auguste’s stumps.
In Pretorius’ over that followed, Chase survived an lbw decision, but three balls later, Tim Seifert became the sacrificial lamb, falling for a similar lbw.
At 51-4 in 10 overs, the Amazon Warriors had their opponents right where they wanted them, but the partnership between Chase and Aaron Jones would completely change the complexion of the encounter.
The definite change came in the 17th over, served up by Ali, who was dispatched to all parts of the ground for 27 runs when the Kings were frighteningly staring down a 13-runs-per-over required rate. Jones took a liking to Pretorius in the following over, sending that one for 17 runs to bring down their required run rate drastically.
Eventually, the duo combined for an 88-run partnership that would get the Kings over the line in 18.1 overs.
Shepherd, Sinclair, Pretorius and Ali all took one scalp apiece, with Sinclair’s figures being the best of the lot at 1-5 from 1.1 over.