The Barbados Royals’ quest for a CPL playoff spot came to a dramatic and devastating end at Kensington Oval on Thursday, as they fell short by just one run against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. The Royals were unable to cross the finish line and were officially eliminated from the tournament, bringing their campaign to a painful close on home soil.
In a must-win clash for both sides, the Patriots defended a target of 150 by the narrowest of margins in a thrilling finish reminiscent of their previous meeting three weeks ago. Barbadian Jason Holder once again rose to the occasion with an undefeated 53 off 30 balls, making his second half-century of the tournament and successfully defending 13 runs in the final over to deny the Royals the victory.
It was Holder who gave himself the responsibility in the last over. Rassie van der Dussen smacked the first ball for six, to bring the equation down to 7 off 5.
But Holder held his nerve and executed his wide yorkers to bring it down to 2 off 1. He nailed a yorker off the final delivery against Daniel Sams to give the Patriots a chance to breathe another day.
The Royals had got off to a promising start in their chase, with Quinton de Kock and Brandon King providing brisk scoring in the PowerPlay. King, in particular, looked menacing, hitting three sixes before his attempted reverse sweep resulted in his dismissal. The departure of King slowed down the scoring for the Royals in the middle overs, leaving them struggling at 61 for 3.
Sherfane Rutherford injected some urgency with two towering sixes, but timely wickets from Naveen Bidaisee and others kept the Royals at bay.
The onus fell on van der Dussen and Rovman Powell to steer the chase, and the South African picked Waqar Salamkheil’s googlies to score timely boundaries. Powell briefly displayed his power hitting with a four and a six before Salamkheil got him to hole out to long-off. With 34 required off the last three overs, Naseem bowled well to give away just four runs while Holder conceded just five and picked up the wicket of Chris Green as well. The 19th over saw the Royals score 12 to bring it down to 13 off the last over which turned out to be a run too far for the hosts.
Earlier, the Patriots, sent in to bat after the Royals won the toss, got off to a decent start thanks to an opening stand of 46 between Mohammad Rizwan and Andre Fletcher. When Fletcher and Evin Lewis departed in the space of three balls, it put the Patriots back and Rizwan found scoring more difficult. He attempted a number of dabs and sweeps before he was caught on the boundary, looking to release the pressure.
Having been 46 without loss, the Patriots stumbled to 74/5 as Chris Green kept things tight for the Royals. It was from there that the Holder masterclass took hold of this match as he made an unbeaten 53 as he and Navin Bidaisee put on 74 for the sixth wicket to give the Patriots a defendable total.
The Royals are now eliminated from the tournament despite having one match left to play. The Patriots can make it to the knockout stages if Guyana Amazon Warriors lose both of their final two group stage matches by a wide enough margin for the Net Run Rate calculations to favour the Patriots. (CPL/CricBuzz/BT)
Scores:
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 150/7 (Jason Holder 53*, Mohammad Rizwan 39; Eathan Bosch 3-26, Chris Green 2-18)
Barbados Royals 149/7 (Rassie van der Dussen 37*, Brandon King 29; Navian Bidaisee 2-24, Waqar Salamkheil 2-27)
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