That brings the end of our coverage of this humdinger of an encounter between St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and St Lucia Kings. We have seen an incredible game where two sides fought hard till the last ball but SLK kept their nerves and took the game away from SKNP. But SKNP have got a big asset in Navin Bidaisee who proved his mettle. It is not easy to bat in this high octane clash on your debut and play an effective innings. He almost took his team home but fell agonizingly short.
For now, this is Saptak Sanyal, signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Karthik Raj and the scorer/analyst of this game Raju Khariya. Have a good day!
David Wiese (St Lucia Kings Captain): "Definitely, got a little bit too close in the end. Glad to pull it off eventually. Decent effort to get to 200 but we knew it is par here. We did leave a few runs out there. Johnson Charles, Roston Chase and Tim David showed what they could do but we couldn't capitalize.
(On Khary Pierre) He bowled beautifully even when there were two left-handers. Lot of people say left-arm spinners can't bowl to left-handers but he did it. We spoke about our plans and talked about not changing it even if the batters got a couple away. Luckily, I came back and Timmy (Tim David) took a good catch. As long as the bowlers are clear with their plans. You can't control the result but can control the process."
Jason Holder (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Captain):"Proud of the guys. Proud of Bidaisee. Some people thought we were behind but credit to the boys for the fight back.
The bowlers did a reasonable job to restrict them to 200. We back ourselves to chase that run. If you see the par score here, it is close to 200. Probably we lost two or three wickets in the middle and that pushed us back a little bit. Then we had to rebuild. Bidaisee did well.
I just tried to pick my areas and pick my bowlers. It is a boundary scoring ground. Happy with the effort but would've been happier if I could take my team further.
Fantastic innings from Bidaisee. It is not a very easy thing to bat at that stage on your debut. Something I would like to say to Jyd and Bidaisee is to not get too high or too low. These are the learning moments in your career. The fight they have put is remarkable.
Roston Chase (Player of the Match):"It was a bit nerve-racking. We made it a hard victory but am still grateful for the two points. First I didn't recognise it was a hat-trick ball. Was just looking to take some time, analyze the conditions and then play my natural game. I base my game on what's required for the team. So, that puts me in a good stead.
I try to keep it tight with my bowling. Don't try to go searching for wickets. Look to give control to the skipper. We left it a bit late to win the game but it is a good start to the campaign."
Roston Chase has been named as the 'Player of the Match'.
8:16 AM IST and 10:46 PM Local Time | Cricket can be cruel sometime. One can put in all the hard yards, do almost everything right but still they can fall agonizingly short. That is what happened with debutant Navin Bidaisee and his captain Jason Holder. St Lucia Kings won the encounter by just 3 runs but St Kitts & Nevis Patriots can be proud of their efforts.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots won the toss and sent the Kings to bat first. Tim Seifert and Johnson Charles added a few boundaries but Kyle Mayers sent Seifert and the next batter Ackeem Auguste back in consecutive deliveries. Johnson Charles decided to keep the momentum going and he hit the boundaries at regular intervals. He added 50 runs with Roston Chase for the third wicket. Charles got to his fifty but played a reckless reverse hit to find Jyd Goolie off Waqar Salamkheil.
Roston Chase led the SLK innings after that. He played some immaculate shots and got the second fiddle from Tim David. They together added 86 runs in just 50 balls. Chase was knocked over by Fazalhaq Farooqi and soon after, David found Naseem Shah off Holder's bowling on 46. The SKNP bowlers were miserly in the death overs and restricted the SLK side to 200. At one point, 220 looked to be very feasible for the latter.
Fazalhaq Farooqi and Waqar Salamkheil- the Afghan bowlers of SKNP bagged two wickets each. Kyle Mayers also took a couple of wickets. Jason Holder and Naseem Shah took a solitary wicket each.
Coming to chase the run, Andre Fletcher took on Keon Gaston to score 14 off the first over. Kyle Mayers also chipped in with a few boundaries off Khary Pierre but in the final over of the powerplay, Pierre came back well by removing Fletcher and Mikyle Louis. The SKNP side were reduced to 49/3.
Jason Holder was then joined by the newcomer Navin Bidaisee. Bidaisee was struggling with the timing in the initial phase of his innings but Holder kept the momentum. He targeted their spinners and started scoring at a brisk pace. He hit 3 fours and 6 maximums on his way to score 63 off 29 balls before holing out to Wiese at long-off. With 62 required off 30 balls, the onus was on Navin Bidaisee and Jyd Goolie.
Bidaisee switched the gears by surprising everyone. He smacked Tabraiz Shamsi for two fours and a maximum in the 16th over and took on Alzarri Joseph next. He accelerated very well and Jyd Goolie accompanied him. The latter hit a maximum in the final ball of the penultimate over and took the equation down to 13 off the final over. Wiese came to bowl the final over and Bidaisee hit him over point for a maximum and in the next ball he took a single to get to his fifty. But Wiese did well to bowl to dot ball by cramping Goolie in the next two balls and in the penultimate ball of the final over, Goolie took a run. With 4 needed off the final ball, Bidaisee had only one option and that was to throw the kitchen sink. He did that and timed it well but Tim David did well to grab a stunner to his right at long-off. St Lucia Kings won the game by just 3 runs.
For the SLK, Khary Pierre, David Wiese and Roston Chase took a couple of wickets each.