There were contrasting emotions from Rovman Powell and Andre Fletcher after recalled Rahkeem Cornwall starred with a five-wicket haul and Powell’s Barbados Royals crushed Fletcher’s St Kitts & Nevis Patriots by nine wickets at Kensington Oval, on Tuesday night, to book a spot in the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) playoffs.
Enjoying the spin-friendly surface, Cornwall claimed five for 16 with his off-breaks as the Patriots’ batting order lost seven wickets for 31 runs and were bowled out for 110 in the last over to fall well short of a competitive T20 total.
In-form opener Quinton De Kock (59 not out off 38 balls) was unstoppable as the Royals mowed down the target in the 12th over. The Royals (5-1) cemented their spot at the top of the CPL ladder, while the Patriots’ (1-7) bid for a playoffs berth is all but over.
“Every time you come home you want to win, and three wins out of four, we’ll definitely take that,” Powell said after the match. “We came here with some form and we played some really good cricket in all four games…We are right up there with one of the better teams in the competition if we continue to play like this,” he added.
After a delayed start due to a wet pitch, the Royals elected to bowl and it proved the right move. The Patriots struggled in the Powerplay leading to a frustrated Evin Lewis, a century-maker earlier in the tournament, holing out in the fourth over.
Skipper Fletcher finally broke the shackles with a targeted assault on Jason Holder before a rush of blood saw him charge down the pitch at Cornwall’s first ball only to miss the shot and be stumped.
Cornwall was recalled after three straight “ducks” with the bat but continued to make an immediate impact with the ball after luring Mikyle Louis into a false shot.
He couldn’t complete a hat-trick, but soon claimed his third wicket with the scalp of Wanindu Hasaranga as the Patriots crashed to 61 for six at the midpoint.
Cornwall wasn’t nearly done after dismissing Odean Smith then completing his five-wicket haul when Ryan John was brilliantly caught by Alick Athanaze in the deep.
The Patriots were in major danger of being dismissed for a total under 100, but Joshua da Silva and Anrich Nortje joined forces in a 39-run ninth partnership—the best of the innings—to avoid that ignominy.
But the Patriots were unable to take early wickets as de Kock and Kadeem Alleyne made it look easy with an opening stand of 57 in the Powerplay. After smashing a ton against the Guyana Amazon Warriors, De Kock continued his rich form with sublime shots around the wicket.
He capitalised after being given out lbw to Kyle Mayers in the fifth over only for the decision to be overturned on review. The Patriots finally ended the stand when Alleyne on 25 was hit on the pads by Hasaranga, who surprisingly had been held back until the sixth over.
But De Kock rolled past another half-century as the Royals emphatically booked a playoff berth.
“No emotion,” was the way a dejected-looking Fletcher reacted to the cellar-placed Patriots’ seventh straight loss.
“The way things have been from the start of the tournament, we were just hoping for things to get better but unfortunately things have just been getting worse.
And with his team’s campaign winding down, Fletcher is hoping that his team can produce the professionalism to get some positive results.
“We still have two games left; we still have to play the cricket, we still have to play it hard and we just have to find a way to win,” he said.
Summarised Scores:
ST KITTS & NEVIS PATRIOTS 110, 19.1 overs (Andre Fletcher 32, Joshua Da Silva 25, Anrich Nortje 22; Rahkeem Cornwall 5/16, Naveen-Ul-Haq 3/21, Obed McCoy 2/11). vs BARBADOS ROYALS 113-1, 11.2 overs (Quinton De Kock 59 n.o,, Kadeem Alleyne 25, Alick Athanaze 22 n.o) —Royals won by nine wickets.