Jason Holder starred with both bat and ball against his former side, to end the Barbados Royals’ chances of making the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League playoffs, while giving the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots an outside chance of reaching the knockout stage here on Thursday.
Holder, who captained the Barbados Royals (formerly Barbados Tridents) to two titles in 2014 and 2019, turned villain this time around by first cracking an unbeaten half century to lift his side to 150 for seven after they were sent in to bat.
He then delivered a stellar final over, trapping Daniel Sams lbw off the last ball of the match with the Royals needing two runs for victory, as the home side fell agonisingly short on 149 for seven, to give the Patriots victory by one run.
With the loss, the Royals fell out of playoff contention, while the Patriots, who moved to eight points, the same as the Guyana Amazon Warriors, can still qualify if the Amazon Warriors lose their final two matches and end up with an inferior net run rate.
Needing 14 runs off the last over, the Patriots seemed on the road to victory when Rassie van der Dussen struck Holder’s first ball for six over long on.
However, Holder rebounded to concede just six runs, including a wide, off the next five balls, leaving the Royals requiring two runs off the final ball for victory and one run to force a Super Over.
But Holder delivered a pinpoint yorker on the stumps that crashed into Daniel Sams’ pads to trap him lbw and give Patriots the win by the slimmest of margins.
It was a heartbreaking loss for the Royals, who seemed on track to record their second win of the tournament after a promising start to their run chase.
Openers Quinton de Kock and Brandon King put on 42 runs inside six overs and the Royals at one stage were cruising at 58 for one in the eighth over.
But King, who made 29, Kadeem Alleyne (5) and de Kock (22), lost their wickets in close proximity to leave the score 60 for three.
Sherfane Rutherford and captain Rovman Powell both got starts, scoring 25 and 16 respectively, but lost their wickets at crucial times to see the Royals lose their momentum.
Navin Bidaisee led the way for the Patriots with 2-24, Waqar Salamkheil took 2-27 and Holder 2-32.
Earlier, Player-of-the-Match Holder scored 53 not out off 30 balls with five sixes and one four, to get the Patriots up to a decent total following a below par batting effort.
Holder along with Bidaisee, who made 30 off 23 balls, helped the Patriots plunder 66 runs from the final six overs, after they found themselves struggling at 84 for five at the end of the 14th over.
Holder bludgeoned Jomel Warrican for two sixes and a four in the 15th over that went for 18 runs, while Bidaisee hit Ramon Simmonds for two maximums in the 19th over that leaked 16 runs.
Their efforts undid the hard work of Eathan Bosch, who claimed 3-26 from his four overs, Chris Green (2-18) and Daniel Sams (2-30). (CMC)
The post Holder’s heroics ends Royals’ playoff hopes, gives Patriots slight hope of advancing appeared first on nationnews.com.