By Neto Baptiste
Antigua and Leeward Islands batsman, Devon Thomas, has welcomed yet another regional title under his belt having won the recently ended Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots but believes he could have done more with the bat.
The part time wicketkeeper amassed a total of 196 runs in nine matches but missed both the semifinal and final due to injury.
“I think I faded away a little bit and could have scored about 90 more runs but outside of that, I take away the fact that we would have won the tournament. It was my first outside of playing for Antigua that I would have won a tournament, so I take that as a positive,” he said.
Patriots claimed their first ever CPL title when they defeated the Saint Lucia Kings by three wickets in a closely contested encounter at Warner Park on September 15.
Thomas believes the closeness of the players had a major influence on the team’s triumphant performance.
“The dressing room and the camaraderie and the fun and joy we have around each other and so on and the work that we put in so it was more enjoyable this year than in the previous years,” the player said.
The player, who listed 2018 as his best year in the CPL when he scored close to 250 runs, revealed however that it was he who opted not to play in the final.
“They came and asked me how I was feeling and I was able to play the final and I said to the captain that it didn’t make sense changing a winning team because Da Silva came in and did a good job so he decided to go with the same team. I just need to be more consistent instead of getting one score here and one score there. I need to be consistent right through,” Thomas said.
In the final, the 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, they built a total around the batting of Roston Chase, who stabilised the innings, allowing the likes of Rahkeem Cornwall and Keemo Paul to play with attacking intent and guide them to 159 for seven.
In what was a dramatic final, the Patriots managed to successfully chase their target with Dominic Drakes the hero with the bat, scoring 48 off 24 balls and securing a remarkable victory with the last ball of the match.