An all-round performance from Roston Chase and a four-wicket haul from Alzarri Joseph helped St Lucia Kings decimate Barbados Royals in Guyana on Saturday (September 21). Royals, the table-toppers, were on the backfoot right from the outset as they put on a poor show with the bat that saw them get restricted to just 96/9. Despite a nervy start, St Lucia Kings wiped off the target with 37 balls remaining to climb up to the second spot in the table.
Top of the table Barbados Royals played a match to forget in Providence as they scored 96/9 in a match that saw them well beaten by 7 wickets. St Lucia Kings putting in a swaggering display to secure a spot in the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) playoffs.
The Royals elected to bat first upon winning the toss but Alzarri Joseph soon had them rueing that decision as he sent Quinton de Kock’s bails flying skywards with a delicious in-ducker that started the struggles from which the Royals never recovered.
Wickets fell steadily as Joseph and Roston Chase impressed with the ball in hand for the Kings, taking seven wickets between them as the Royals only just managed to bat out their overs – largely thanks to some lower order resistance from Keshav Maharaj and Maheesh Theekshana.
Johnson Charles was caught and bowled by Jason Holder as the Kings set about hauling in the total and secure the win that would see them book a place in the latter stages of the tournament. Faf du Plessis looked good for his 26 off 19 balls before attempting to open the shoulders to Maharaj and being stumped by de Kock, but in truth, the Kings never looked in any trouble.
Roston Chase and Tim Seifert made 39 and 21 respectively to knock off the runs with 37 balls remaining. Alzarri Joseph was duly awarded the Player of the Match award for laying the groundwork with his four wickets earlier in the piece. It was an off day for the Royals who have looked imperious for most of the tournament so far. They’ll have to dust themselves down with the 2024 competition heading towards the final stages and a handful of teams seemingly hitting peak form at just the right time.
Rovman Powell’s decision to bat first backfired spectacularly as Joseph struck in his first over to remove both the openers. In-form Quinton de Kock lost his offstump and Rahkeem Cornwall mistimed one that gave the bowling side a terrific start. Things only got better from thereon as Chase got into the act as well to reduce the opponent to 13/3. The skipper was the next to depart as Joseph picked up his third wicket as the Royals ended up with just 28 runs on the board in the powerplay.
Any hopes of a fight back evaporated real quick as the wickets kept tumbling in the middle overs as well. Noor Ahmad and Chase ripped through that lineup to reduce them to 50/7 before David Miller rallied alongside the lower order to ensure the Royals don’t get bowled out. Maheesh Theekshana rounded off the innings with a six last ball but the Royals could only muster 96/9.
The Sri Lankan spinner then gave his side a little hope when he bowled a wicket-maiden after Jason Holder dismissed Johnson Charles. However, Faf du Plessis fetched successive boundaries off Holder and then smashed Theekshana for a six before the end of the powerplay to calm the nerves.
Even though du Plessis was stumped immediately after the powerplay got over, Chase was present in the middle to ensure it was a smooth sailing. The allrounder looked in good nick alongside Tim Seifert as the duo kept collecting boundaries at regular intervals to close the game out in the 14th over.
Brief scores: Barbados Royals 96/9 in 20 overs (David Miller 21; Alzarri Joseph 4/22, Roston Chase 3/18) lost to Saint Lucia Kings 97/3 in 13.5 overs (Roston Chase 39*, Faf du Plessis 26; Maheesh Theekshana 1/16) by 7 wickets
All-round St Lucia Kings do the double over Barbados Royals on Sept 22nd to go to the top of the table.
In the space of 24 hours, St. Lucia Kings have downed Barbados Royals for the second time – doing it on this occasion in Guyana – to move to the top of the table with 12 points. Johnson Charles and Tim Seifert set the Kings up with 162/3 after which the bowlers did enough to catch the Royals short.
Their openers – Quinton de Kock and Kadeem Alleyne – started well but since their exit the chase meandered. Royals eventually fell 13 runs short as they crumbled in the face of a combined bowling effort. Each of Alzarri Joseph, Noor Ahmad and David Wiese walked away with two wickets.
Asked to bat first, St Lucia Kings lost their skipper Faf du Plessis in the PowerPlay even as Charles began in expansive fashion – particularly against Maheesh Theekshana. Charles took on Keshav Maharaj too, who dismissed du Plessis, and scored 30 of the 42 runs his team made in the first six overs.
Charles and Ackeem Auguste put together a stand but Rahkeem Cornwall bowled a couple of tight middle overs to slow down the progress. Charles fell right after he got to his fifty with a six and just 37 runs came between the 10th and the 15th over. Auguste then had to retire hurt for a 32-ball 35. Seifert however, came out swinging as the King scored 60 in the last five overs. Seifert finished with an unbeaten 45 off 25, that included 3 fours and 3 sixes.
The Royals flew in chase as their openers got 52 off just the first four overs. It was a platform good enough to consolidate on while needing to score at a little more than eight-an-over, but the departures of the two openers derailed them. De Kock fell first, to a well-disguised slower one from Joseph in the fifth over while Alleyne was undone by a tossed up delivery from offspinner Mikkel Govia in the 9th over.
David Wiese and Joseph were effective at the death, leaving the Royals tail with too much to chase. The equation came down to 21 off the last over that Joseph successfully and comfortably defended.
Royals captain Rovman Powell won the toss and elected to field first but his bowlers struggled to make as much impact as they’ve been used to throughout the tournament so far. Nevertheless, Royals wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock showcased his lightning quick hands to get rid of Faf du Plessis and Roston Chase, both stumped off Maharaj and Theekshana respectively as the Kings chipped away.
Johnson Charles played some muscular sweep shots to clear the boundary rope, top scoring with 53 runs off 42 balls, he was supported by Ackeem Auguste with 35 off 32 before the latter had to retire hurt. Tim Seifert then struck a late flurry of boundaries to get the Kings to the highest total scored at Providence in this year’s competition – 162/3 would take some chasing.
The Royals stellar batting card got off to a flier in response – reaching 56 without loss before Alzarri Joseph got rid of the dangerous de Kock for 22 off 13 balls. Kadeem Alleyne had actually been the main aggressor for the Royals, particularly in the third over when he smashed three consecutive sixes off Roston Chase. The Kings then struck back by picking up both Rahkeem Cornwall and Rovman Powell cheaply
Royals reached 100/4 in the 13th over before Noor Ahmed stitched together a maiden to an increasingly frustrated David Miller in the 14th which left the Royals needing to hit 63 runs off the last 36 balls.
Miller atoned for his sluggish strike rate by bunting two boundaries in the next over but was caught at cover by du Plessis for 21 off 22 balls trying to find the fence again as the runs per over required climbed ever higher.
Alick Athanaze and Nyeem Young both fell in the latter stages to leave Royals needing 21 off the last over with Jason Holder and Maheesh Theekshana at the crease. Theekshana got a single off the first ball to get Holder on strike, an edge for four followed to keep Royals in the hunt. David Wiese then got the crucial breakthrough as Holder holed out to Khary Pierre on the long off boundary. Wiese held his nerve at the last to see Kings claim the victory by 13 runs.
The four teams to make the playoffs of the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) may have been decided but that did not stop the Barbados Royals and St Lucia Kings slugging it out in Providence with bragging rights and momentum all to be played for.
Brief Scores: Saint Lucia Kings 162/3 in 20 overs (Johnson Charles 53, Tim Seifert 45*; Keshav Maharaj 1-31) beat Barbados Royals 149/8 in 20 overs (Kadeem Alleyne 47; Alzarri Joseph 2-30, Noor Ahmad 2-20, David Wiese 2-17) by 13 runs.