Coming off an unbeaten 52-ball 102 in his last innings against Trinbago Knight Riders, Evin Lewis continued his scintillating form to lead St Kitts and Nevis to a ruthless, clinical chase against Guyana Amazon Warriors in the second semi-final of CPL 2021, at Warner Park.
Up against 179, Lewis and Chris Gayle (42 in 27 balls) set the tone early. Although Gayle did not bat deep after a 76-run opening-wicket stand in 44 balls, Lewis (77* in 39) remained till the end to guide his side reach the target with seven wickets and 13 balls to spare. Dwayne Bravo, who promoted himself at No. 3, also made a handy 31-ball 33.
Earlier, Guyana were in excellent position at 88/2 at the halfway mark after Bravo won the toss and asked them to bat. Nicholas Pooran, who plundered 18 off an over from Gayle, was the architect of it. However, once he fell to Dominic Drakes in the 11th over, St Kitts and Nevis triggered a collapse. Guyana slipped to 131/8 in 16.3 overs before Shimron Hetmyer came to the rescue.
Hetmyer struck fours sixes and two fours in his unbeaten 20-ball 45 to revive Guyana. He took them to 178/9, which was still not enough.
St Kitts and Nevis spinners Jon-Russ Jaggesar (2-19) and Fawad Ahmed (2-22) went for less than six an over, and picked up two wickets each. Naseem Shah and Drakes also bagged two scalps each, but were a bit expensive.
Brief scores: Guyana Amazon Warriors 178/9 in 20 overs (Hetmyer 45*; Jaggesar 2-19) lost to St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 181/3 in 17.5 overs (Lewis 77*; Smith 2-48) by 7 wickets with 13 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Evin Lewis.