The Caribbean Premier League will have a new champion as St Kitts and Nevis Patriots are all set to lock horns with Saint Lucia Kings in the title clash on Wednesday.
The Patriots registered a place for themselves in the final after beating Guyana Amazon Warriors in the second semi-final in St Kitts by 7 wickets after chasing down a target of 179 in less than 18 overs.
Riding on some aggressive stroke-play from openers Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis, the Warriors put up 76 for the first wicket before Gayle was sent back in the hut by Kevin Sinclair for 42 off 27 that included three maximums.
But Gayle’s dismissal didn’t really stop Lewis from scoring runs at a brisk pace as he along with captain Dwayne Bravo who came in at number three put 88 for the second wicket. Bravo was eventually undone by Odean Smith when the team score read 164.
Fabian Allen followed him next without troubling the scorers but Lewis was in a different form as he took the team over the line and struck an unbeaten 39-ball 77 which included 8 maximums during the course.
Earlier, the Guyana team put 178/9 in 20 overs, courtesy a quick-fire 45* off 20 from Shimron Hetmyer.
The Warriors though had a decent start to the proceedings but lost wickets at regular intervals and the batsmen didn’t really capitalise on the starts they got. Brandon King and Chandrapaul Hemraj scored 27 each while skipper Pooran chipped in with 14-ball 25.
Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Dominic Drakes, Naseem Shah and Fawad Ahmed were among the wickets after all of them scalped a couple of wickets apiece.
Patriots captain Bravo lauded the team for their efforts and also admitted that the side wanted to bowl first.
“We have a lot of experience in our group. It helps. We wanted to bowl first and we knew they wanted to bat first. It was important to bowl well. At the halfway mark, we were happy. It was a good day with the bowling group,” he said after the match.
Guyana skipper Pooran expressed his disappointment at the loss and said that the bowling wasn’t really up to the mark during the course.
“Tough loss. As a bowling group, we weren't upto the mark. Having said that, I hope that we take the learning from this. We were happy with anything over 160, Hetmyer played really well to get us to a good score,” he said.