The Caribbean Premier League saw a double header on Sunday with four of the best teams in the competition fought it out for supremacy.
The first game between the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and the Knight Riders, ended in a comfortable victory for the Knight Riders.
Having won the toss and chose to bat Faf du Plessis’ side were bundled out for 137 after a superb spell from D Bravo of 4/13 in his 4 overs. A 60 of 40 from Lendl Simmons took the Patriots to a decent total and gave something for his bowlers to bowl while no other batsmen in the batting order managed to cross the 30-run mark.
In reply, the Knight riders lost Hashim Amla early to J Louis but gritty partnerships between W Perkins and D Ramdin and B McCullum and D Ramdin saw the Knight Riders run away with the game with 3 overs to spare.
Ramdin scored a half century while McCullum was unbeaten on 43 of just 28 balls as the Knight riders managed to finish the group-stage with a victory and a 4th place just managing to qualify for the play-offs.
The Patriots, on the other hand, finished at the bottom of the table and knocked out of the competition.
In the second game, The St Lucia Zouks got the better of the Jamaica Tallawahs to post a 17-run victory over Darren Sammy’s side.
Sammy won the toss and asked the Zouks to bat first but was not able to get a quick wicket in the first innings. D Fletcher and J Charles managed to put in big performances as scoring 134 runs together in just less than 15 overs in the first innings.
Shane Watson produced a little cameo that saw his score 42 of 17 balls with 5 sixes as he lifted the target to 195 in the stipulated 20 overs.
The Tallawahs tried their best to keep up with the asking rate but they were not able to chase it down though they came close because of the regular fall of wickets in crucial times.
Chris Gayle gave the Tallawahs a blistering start but he was not able to cross the 30 mark and while most of his team-mates tried their best to score quickly, they were not able to play a long innings as they finally fell 17 runs short of the target.
Shane Watson, who also picked up a wicket with the ball was awarded the man of the match for his all-round performance as the Zouks stole a 3rd place come to the end of the group stage of the competition.
The Tallawahs lost a chance to go to the top of the table and will stay put in the 2nd place.
The Warriors will now face the Tallawahs in the first qualifier while St Lucia Zouks and the Trinbago Knight Riders will face each other in the second game of the playoffs in the competition.
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