Forde, Pooran earn Kings crucial win over Kingsmen

GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia – A spectacular spell of pace bowling by Matthew Forde and a superb, unbeaten half century from opener Kamil Pooran were instrumental in the St Lucia Kings’ six-wicket victory over the struggling Jamaica Kingsmen on Friday.

Forde collected his maiden T20 five-wicket haul, but the Kingsmen did well to recover from being 54 for five to get up to 169 for nine in their 20 overs at the Daren Sammy National Stadium after being sent in to bat.

Pooran then smashed 81 not out off 49 balls, with six fours and five sixes, to lead the home side’s run chase and see them comfortably total 171 for four in 18.2 overs to improve their record to 3-3 and jump to the top of the table.

The Kings had to work a lot harder than initially expected after Forde’s early burst destroyed the Kingsmen’s top order.

After Shadley van Schalkwyk prised out the wicket of Kirk McKenzie with the fifth ball of the day’s first over, Forde claimed the wickets of Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Rovman Powell for a first ball duck and Hassan Khan, to see them crumble to 54 for five inside the power play.

However, Keacy Carty, who scored an unbeaten 50 off 45 balls led a recovery with first Andre Russell and then Odean Smith to get the Kingsmen up to a competitive score.

He added 41 runs with Russell, who lashed 25 off 15 balls for the seventh wicket and then combined with Smith, who scored an unbeaten 27 off 17 balls, to smash 53 runs in six overs.

Forde, who was predictably named Player-of-the-Match, returned to dismiss Carty for 50 off 45 balls in the last over, which also saw Vitel Lawes being run out.

He finished with the excellent figures of 5-23 from his four overs.

The Kings didn’t get off to the best of starts either, with Hunain Shah holding on to a return catch to dismiss Tim Seifert for 12 with 25 runs on the board.

But Pooran and John Campbell gave the home side the upper hand during a 66-run partnership that propeled them to 91 for one at the halfway stage.

The Kings did suffer a mini collapse, with left-arm wrist spinner Vitel Lawes claiming the wickets of Campbell for 23 and Johann Jeremiah, in the space of two runs to leave them 93 for three.

And when Shah bowled Kings’ captain Roston Chase for 11, the Kingsmen gave themselves hope of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat with the score 114 for four.

Those dreams were quickly wiped away by Pooran and Obus Pienaar, with the two sharing an unbroken stand of 57 runs to guide their side over the line with 10 balls remaining.

Pienaar was especially brutal, bludgeoning four fours and two sixes in his unbeaten knock of 34 off just 14 balls.