CPL 2021: St Kitts & Nevis win maiden title, beat Saint Lucia in last ball thriller

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Hosts St Kitts and Nevis Patriots eked out a three-wicket win over Saint Lucia Kings in a last-ball thriller to claim their maiden Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title at Warner Park here.

Saint Lucia Kings won the toss and chose to bat, as they did in their semi-final match.

Despite losing wickets at key stages of the game, Saint Lucia posted a decent 159 for seven riding on Roston Chase and Rahkeem Cornwall's 43 each.

In what was a dramatic final, the Patriots managed to successfully chase their target with Dominic Drakes turning out to be the hero with the bat, scoring 48 off 24 balls and securing a remarkable victory in the last ball of the match.

Saint Lucia Kings started their innings with the loss of captain Andre Fletcher and Mark Deyal in the Powerplay.

Cornwall got the innings back on track with some power hitting but the Patriots utilised spin to great effect -- Fabian Allen, Jon-Russ Jaggesar and Fawad Ahmed working in unison to pick up three wickets in the middle overs and leave the Kings in a spot of bother.

Chase then anchored the innings and a late burst from Keemo Paul (39 off 21), which saw him hit three consecutive sixes in an over, took the Kings to a challenging total.

It was a dream start for the Kings with the ball as the dangerous Chris Gayle was bowled by a Chase delivery, and not long after, Evin Lewis was caught out, with Chase being the fielder.

Joshua da Silva and Sherfane Rutherford began to rebuild, but quick wickets, including that of captain Dwayne Bravo, saw the Patriots slip to 95 for five.

But it was not to be as Drakes recorded his highest ever score, firing six boundaries to take the Patriots over the line in dramatic fashion.

Brief Scores: St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 160/7 (Drakes 48 not out, Da Silva 37; Riaz 2/36, Chase 1/17) beat Saint Lucia Kings 159/7 (Cornwall 43, Chase 43; Naseem 2/26, Fawad 2/32) by three wickets.