Chase, Jones guide Kings to first-ever CPL title

PROVIDENCE, Guyana (CMC):

BARBADIANS ROSTON Chase and Aaron Jones produced memorable performances to help the St Lucia Kings capture their first Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title, with an exciting six-wicket victory over the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Sunday night.

Noor Ahmad’s three-wicket haul put the Kings in command after they won the toss and sent the defending champions in to bat, limiting the Warriors to 138 for eight from their 20 overs.

With their side struggling at 51 for four in the 10th over, player-of-the-match Chase, who scored an unbeaten 39 together with Jones, who cracked 48 not out, added an unbroken 89 for the fifth wicket to help the Kings stroll to victory with 11 balls remaining.

After being sent in to bat on a slow surface at Providence Stadium, the Warriors, surprisingly, never came to grips with the conditions.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz only lasted two balls before he picked out Faf du Plessis at mid-on to be out for a duck with just one run on the board.

Moeen Ali and Shai Hope struggled during a 33-run partnership for the second wicket that required seven overs.

Hope was eventually put out of his misery when he was bowled by Chase after scoring 22 off 24 balls.

Ali’s torturous stay of 14 runs from 20 balls ended soon after when his intended sweep shot off Ahmad picked out Johnson Charles, as the Warriors found themselves 45 for three in the ninth over.

They continued to lose wickets at crucial intervals, with Ahmad also accounting for Shimron Hetmyer for 11, pacer Matthew Forde got rid of Kevin Sinclair after he also scored 11, and Keemo Paul was caught behind off the bowling of Alzarri Joseph, to leave them perilously placed at 88 for six in the 17th over.

It took some major power hitting from Romario Shepherd and Dwaine Pretorius to add some semblance of respectability to the Warriors’ total.

Pretorius struck two sixes and two fours in scoring 25 from 12 balls, while Shepherd clobbered David Wiese for a six and a four in the last over of the innings to finish unbeaten on 19 from only nine deliveries.

Ahmad, who was adjudged player-of-the-series, was the pick of the Kings’ bowlers with 3-19 from his four overs.

The Kings’ opening pair of du Plessis and Johnson Charles gave their side a decent start, scoring 23 runs inside the first four overs.

But once Charles’ inside edged a delivery from medium pacer Romario Shepherd onto his leg stump to be out for seven, things went downhill.

Ali had du Plessis caught behind for 21, Ackeem Auguste was bowled by off-spinner Kevin Sinclair for seven, and fast bowler Pretorius had Tim Seifert lbw after he made just three, Kings collapsing to 51 for four in the 10th over.

Their dismissals brought Chase and Jones to the crease, and both batsmen started their innings cautiously.

At the end of the 15th over, the match seemed to be getting away from the Kings, who required 66 runs from 30 balls at a challenging run rate of 13.20 runs per over.

However, the pair responded perfectly, launching Ali for three sixes and two fours in the ensuing over that leaked 27 runs.

Jones then hit Pretorius for two sixes in the 17th over, while Chase added a boundary for good measure, as they took 20 runs from that over.

That brought the equation down to 19 runs from 18 balls, but Jones was in no mood to slow down, clobbering Shepherd for a six and a four off consecutive deliveries in the next over to effectively end the contest.

Jones was left two runs short of a well-deserved half-century when with the scores tied, Imran Tahir’s delivery was called a wide, sparking wild celebrations.

Chase finished unbeaten on 39 from 22 balls, inclusive of two sixes and two fours, while Jones’ 48 not out contained four sixes and two fours.