St Kitts & Nevis Patriots carried on their unbeaten start in the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a six-wicket victory over the Jamaica Tallawahs.
The Patriots won the toss and elected to field first and a disciplined bowling performance restricted the Tallawahs to 166-8, a total that appeared under par for the track.
In reply, the Patriots proved that assessment to be accurate as they made it four wins from four with another dominant batting display led by the tournament’s top scorer Sherfane Rutherford.
The Tallawahs got their innings off to a lightning start with the hard-hitting duo of Chadwick Walton and Kennar Lewis putting on a blistering partnership of 41 runs inside 3.3 overs.
However, once Paul Van Meekeren dismissed Kennar Lewis that led to a shift in the innings with the Patriots tightening the screws courtesy of some economical bowling by captain DJ Bravo.
Things were to go from bad to worse for the Tallawahs when Walton had to retire hurt, tweaking his hamstring after running a quick single.
It took an enterprising counter-attack by Rovman Powell and Carlos Brathwaite in the back end of the innings to revitalise the Tallawahs and this was further boosted by some late blows by the lower order to ensure they posted a respectable total.
The Patriots made a similar start in their innings, with Evin Lewis bringing the early fireworks, but the wickets of Devon Thomas and Asif Ali in quick succession followed by Evin Lewis left the game in the balance.
If things were finely poised Sherfane Rutherford and Fabian Allen made light work of the equation, a fantastic display of power-hitting saw the pair smash 55 runs from 20 balls to seal the win at a canter.
Scores: St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 169-4 (Rutherford 50*, Lewis 39; Russell 1-31, Powell 1-34) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 166-8 (Brathwaite 27, Walton 26; Bravo 3-25, Van Meekeren 2-27) by six wickets. (www.sportsmax.tv)