Sports
Roneil Walcott
REIGNING Caribbean Premier League (CPL) champs St Lucia Kings came to the party on home soil on August 26 when they got a four-wicket victory over Guyana Amazon Warriors in a high-scoring affair at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, Beausejour, St Lucia.
In what was a meeting between last year’s finalists, the Kings put on a royal display as a classy innings of 73 off 35 balls by young talent Ackeem Auguste saw the hosts chase down Guyana’s 203-run target with 11 balls to spare.
Towards the end of the first innings, it appeared as though the Amazon Warriors had seized all the momentum as a punishing innings from Romario Shepherd (73 not out off 34) saw them score 107 runs off the last six overs to end on 202 for six. The carnage started in the 15th over as Shepherd hit seamer Oshane Thomas (one for 63) for three sixes in an over which also had three no-balls and cost the Kings 33 runs. Keon Gaston (two for 57) also came in for rough treatment at the death as he bowled six wides in the 17th over, which went for a whopping 27 runs.
With their team stuttering at 78 for five at one stage, Shepherd and Iftikhar Ahmed (33 off 27) gave the innings much-needed impetus with their 102-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
At the halfway stage, Shepherd said he felt a score of 200 was par on the batting surface.
In their response, the Kings proved that statement to be true as the 21-year-old Auguste and New Zealand’s Tim Seifert (37 off 24) took their team to a splendid 86 for one at the end of the power play after the loss of Johnson Charles (13) in the second over. Auguste made his intentions clear when he hit Warriors captain Imran Tahir (one for 46) for a six and three successive fours to end the power play.
Auguste didn’t let up there as he brought up his fifty off just 19 balls and continued to dominate the 87-run stand with Seifert. The Kiwi batsman was dismissed by Tahir in the tenth over as the Kings still had work to do, needing 92 off the last ten overs.
New batsman Roston Chase (12) was the next man to be dismissed, while Auguste followed soon after as the Kings still required 63 off the last 44 balls. The-in form Tim David (25 off 12) wasted no time as he cracked two fours and a six in his cameo, with Aaron Jones chipping in with 16 off 12 as the St Lucian franchise cruised to 203 for six to get their second win of the season.
Jediah Blades and Gudakesh Motie led the Warriors attack with two wickets apiece.
Summarised Scores:
GUYANA AMAZON WARRIORS: 202/6 from 20 overs (Romario Shepherd 73 not out, Iftikhar Ahmed 33, Ben McDermott 30; Keon Gaston 2/57, David Wiese 1/30) vs ST LUCIA KINGS: 203/6 from 18.1 overs (Ackeem Auguste 73, Tim Seifert 37, Tim David 25; Gudakesh Motie 2/32, Jediah Blades 2/35). Kings won by four wickets.