Dwayne Bravo is the ‘champion’ again as he led St Kitts and Nevis Patriots to their first Caribbean Premier League title following a nerve-racking three-wicket win against Saint Lucia Kings in the final of the season at Warner Park.
Chasing a stiff 160, St Kitts and Nevis needed nine runs off the final over, off Kesrick Williams. The first four balls saw 1, 1, 0, 2, and the equation reduced to five off two balls. Williams then missed the yorker by a couple of inches, and Dominic Drakes (48* in 24 balls) took full advantage of it. He slammed that for four, and then ran a single to drive his side across the target.
Earlier, Andre Fletcher and Rahkeem Cornwall got Saint Lucia off to a rollicking start. They added 25 in 17 balls before Fawad Ahmed gave St Kitts and Nevis their first breakthrough when Sheldon Cottrell held Fletcher’s (11) mistimed shot after running back from mid on.
Mark Deyal, who scored 44-ball 78 in the semi-final against Trinbago Knight Riders, did not last long this time. Saint Lucia were 32/2 in 4.1 overs after his departure.
Roston Chase (43) and Cornwall held the fort from there. The latter hit Drakes a hat-trick of fours in the fifth over to keep the scoreboard ticking. They took Saint Lucia to 76 at the halfway mark.
In the 11th over, Fabian Allen cleaned up Cornwall (43) to break the 44-run stand. Eight balls later, Jon-Russ Jaggesar got David Wiese in a similar fashion. Tim David departed cheaply as well, as Saint Lucia slipped from 76/2 to 100/5.
Keemo Paul then gave the impetus that Saint Lucia required. He smashed Drakes over the rope three times on the trot, and finished on 21-ball 39 to steer his side to a challenging 159/7.
Coming to the chase, St Kitts and Nevis lost both Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis inside the opening four overs. Joshua Da Silva (37) and Sherfane Rutherford (25) exhibited resilience under pressure but fell in successive overs, in the 10th and 11th.
Bravo came to bat at No. 5, but the ploy did not work. Wiese dismissed him in the 14th over before Drakes took charge, and took the game away from Saint Lucia.
Brief Scores: Saint Lucia Kings 159/7 in 20 overs (Rahkeem Cornwall 43; Naseem Shah 2-26) lost to St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 160/7 in 20 over (Dominic Drakes 48*; Wahab Riaz 2-36) by 3 wickets with 0 ball to spare. Player of the Match: Dominic Drakes.