CPL 2021 SF 1: Trinbago Knight Riders vs St Lucia Kings
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, the Kings posted a gigantic score of 205/4 in their allotted 20 overs. Mark Deyal ended as the top scorer for his team with a fantastic knock of 78 off 44 balls. His innings was backed up superbly via cameos from Roston Chase (36 off 21), David Wiese (34* off 21) and Tim David (38* off 17).
Spinners Akeal Hossain (1/27) and Sunil Narine (1/12) were extremely economical given how the rest of the TKR bowling attack went on the day. Pacers Ravi Rampaul (1/56), Ali Khan (0/42) and left-arm orthodox Khary Pierre (1/51), and captain Kieron Pollard (0/16) conceded a whopping 166 runs from the remaining 12 overs in the innings.
An insipid bowling effort cost Knight Riders heavily as they could only reach as far as 184 runs in the chase. The pressure of the asking rate forcing TKR batsmen to take risks more frequently than they would like as they were dismissed inside 20 overs.
Narine (30 off 17) was the top scorer for the innings, which included twenties from Colin Munro (28 off 23), Denesh Ramdin (29 off 26), Darren Bravo (25 off 16) and Pollard (26 off 13). No one could play the big knock that TKR desperately required.
The South African fast-bowling all-rounder David Wiese had a field day with the ball as he finished with a rare T20 five-fer (5/39) from his four overs. Wahab Riaz (2/36) and Keemo Paul (2/21) bagged two wickets each.
Brief scores
St Lucia Kings 205/4 in 20 overs (Deyal 78, David 38*; Narine 1/12) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 184 in 19.3 overs (Narine 30, Ramdin 29; Wiese 5/39) by 21 runs
CPL 2021 SF 2 – Guyana Amazon Warriors vs St Kitts & Nevis Patriots
Opening batsman Chris Gayle blasted 42 runs off just 27 balls to give the Partiots the proper start, along with Evin Lewis, who was in scintillating form on the night and hit a 39-ball 77 not out to see through the chase for his team.
Lewis first maximised the powerplay with Gayle, stitching a 72-run opening stand, and then added 88 runs for the second wicket with skipper Dwayne Bravo (34 off 31), who impacted the game crucially and helped his team reach the winning post with their seven wickets still intact.
With the likes of Gayle and Lewis getting going, only off-spinner Kevin Sinclair (1/31) could claim to have maintained any sort of control over the run-scoring for the Warriors.
Earlier in the day, the Warriors reached a total of 178/9 mainly due to an enterprising knock from Shimron Hetmyer, who made his 45 runs off just 20 deliveries. But the rest of the scorecard offered a grim look, as 27 was the joint second-highest score made by openers Brandon King and Chandrapaul Hemraj.
Brief scores
Guyana Amazon Warriors 178/9 in 20 overs (Hetmyer 45*; Jaggesar 2/19) lost to Saint Kitts and Nevis Patriots 181/3 in 17.5 overs (Lewis 77*, Gayle 42; Sinclair 1/31) by 7 wickets
