It was yet another victory for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots courtesy once again to Sherfane Rutherford’s brilliance with the bat. Rutherford scored a blistering 59 off 34 balls, striking at more than 170 and most importantly remaining unbeaten to guide his team through to a tough run chase. With this win, the Patriots maintained their position at the top, winning all three of their matches in the Caribbean Premier League 2021.
Chasing 167 for the win on a not so flat Warner Park wicket in Basseterre, the Patriots got off to a good start, getting to 69 in the ninth over without any loss. However, on the last ball of the ninth over, Imran Tahir got rid of dangerous Evin Lewis and followed it up with the wicket of Devon Thomas in the 11th over, but not before Odean Smith had removed Asif Ali cheaply in the 10th.
Suddenly the Patriots were in a spot of bother with two new batsmen at the crease. Even as Dwayne Bravo relied more on his glorious shots than strike change, Rutherford kept the required run rate in check. The duo was given chances as Odean Smith fell over the boundary line after taking the catch of Rutherford while Kevin Sinclair let one shot of Bravo go through his hands, once again on the boundary line in the deep.
Taking full advantage of the chances, the duo added 72 off 46 balls to get the Patriots close to victory. However, when Bravo got out in the 19th over with his team still requiring 18 off nine deliveries, the onus fell on Rutherford to steer them home.
He took upon the responsibility and hit two sixes off the very next two balls of Naveen-Ul-Haq, making the equation very simple to get in the last over as well as reaching his second fifty in the tournament. In the last over, it all came down to formalities as only four runs were needed for the win which the Guyanese got with a four over the wicketkeeper’s head.
Earlier in the day, after winning the toss, the Warriors once again chose to bat first. After a brilliant start with the bat from Mohammad Hafeez and Shimron Hetmyer, the team from the Amazon looked like getting to a total in the capacity of 180 or more. However, both Hetmyer (52 off 35) and Hafeez (70 off 59) getting out in quick succession made matters worse and the team from Guyana could manage to get only 166 off their 20 overs.
Warriors, who have lost two in two now, having won their inaugural match against defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders, would look to get back to winning ways when they face the Knight Riders once again on September 01. However, Patriots would look to continue with their momentum when they face Jamaica Tallawahs for the first time this season in their fourth match on Thursday, September 02.