CPL 2021 | Salute Cottrell says St Kitts after last- ball thriller against Tridents

There are some matches that remain etched to the memory of the audiences for the rest of their lives. They are not necessarily the finals or part of the big fanfare but are ordinary matches with some extraordinary finish. The 14th match of the Caribbean Premier League 2021 was one such match for all the small number of fans that were gathered at Basseterre, St Kitts. 

Fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell or the Seargent as he is known for his impeccable ‘Salute’ celebrations after picking up wickets, won the game for his team St Kitts and Nevis Patriots against Barbados Royals by hitting a six off the very last ball, when four runs were required for victory. It was a victory that the scoreboards might not be able to reflect in totality. 

When skipper Dwayne Bravo, the last recognised Patriots batter was out with 34 still needed off 15 balls to win, all hopes were done and dusted for the chasing team as well as its fans in the stadium. However, number eight and nine batters for the Patriots, Dominic Drakes and Cottrell, had something else in their minds. While Drakes hit a four and took a single of the Nyeem Young over to take the Patriots total close to the target. But the real game turner was Cottrell. 

In the 19th over and against the top Royals bowler and their skipper Jason Holder, Cottrell hit a six and a four and his heroics were well complemented by Drakes, who hit a four off the last ball of the over to garner 18 runs from it, cutting down the target to just 10 off the last six balls. Even as fast bowlers Oshane Thomas and Raymon Reifer had an over each up their sleeves, Holder turned to Ashley Nurse to defend the nine runs. 

The move nearly came off as the off-spinner gave away just five runs of the first four balls and also got the all-important wicket of Drakes. Naseem Shah the new batter was able to get single off the fifth ball and bring Cottrell on strike for the last ball with four runs needed for a win. 

On the last ball, Nurse did what he shouldn’t have, pitched it full on the off stumps and into the hitting zone of Cottrell who gave it a mighty heave as the ball went sailing over long-off for six as the entire dug out of the Patriots came running to the ground as if they had won the league title itself. The crowd had already gone dancing into the night even as the ball was in the air as six was written all over it. 

The Patriots for the first time failed to make it big with the bat as all its top players except Universe Boss Chris Gayle went cheaply. Gayle scored a 39 ball 42. Other than him, Devon Thomas, Drakes and Cottrell were the only ones to get into double figures. While Drakes made a 15 ball 28, Cottrell remained unbeaten on 20 off seven balls. 

Young was the most successful Royals, bowler, with figures of 3-26 while Englishman Jake Lintott, playing his first game of the league managed to scalp two important wickets of Gayle and the league’s highest run-scorer Sherfane Rutherford. 

Earlier in the day, former India U-19 player Smit Patel, who migrated to the United States for greener pastures got his first game in the CPL. Playing at number three for the Barbados side, he scored a calculated fifty off 45 balls but couldn’t convert it into a big score, getting out on 54 off a Bravo delivery. 

Courtesy of Smit’s fifty the Royals were able to reach 160 in their allotted 20 overs. 

With four losses from five games, the Royals now have their task cut out when they face their next challenge in the form of Guyana Amazon Warriors on a triple header day on Sunday 05 September. Patriots on the other hand have almost sealed their place in the Semi-Finals with five wins from five games. They next face St Lucia kings who too are high on confidence having beaten Guyana Amazon Warriors in their previous encounter.