At 124 without loss in the 12th over of Qualifier 1 in the Republic Bank 2024 Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Faf du Plessis’ Saint Lucia Kings were sitting pretty.
Du Plessis and Johnson Charles, SLK’s unchanged opening pair, had powered their way to a score that put them in position to emulate the Guyana Amazon Warriors’ winning weekend total 207 for 7, which allowed GAW to beat them comfortably by 35 runs in Match 29.
But they didn’t even get to 200. They did not need to.
When the heavens opened in the 13th over, the home side was on 106 for 4, 15 adrift of where the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern required them to be at that stage. So the Kings went marching into the final.
After his skipper won the toss, Man-of-the-Match Johnson, the CPL’s highest run-scorer with 3300 runs, had raced to 50, his fourth in the CPL this season, in the eighth over. And then progressed to 79 by the 12th before he holed out to Keemo Paul running around from long-on.
GAW captain Imran Tahir had finally taken the chance to call up Moeen Ali despite there being a pair of right-handers at the wicket. In his very first over, the off-spinner induced the false shot from the in-form Charles.
Truth be told, his innings had not been quite as aesthetically satisfying as the spectacle he had provided with his boundary-filled 40-ball 89 against Trinbago Knight Riders on Republic Day.
Virtually flawless against TKR then, he often missed his switch-hit on the night and his boundaries did not always come off the middle of the bat. Still, his innings took only 45 balls and contained five sixes and eight fours, quick enough to leave the GAW batsmen in his wake.
Paul would also catch Tim Seifert off Ali (2/24) in the 18th over and Roston Chase off Dwaine Pretorius (2/51) in the 19th. Du Plessis (57, 37, 3×6, 5×4), meanwhile, fell off the last ball of the 15th—brilliantly caught by a sprinting, diving Rahamanullah in the area of long-on.
In the end, the 70-odd runs added to the 124-run opening partnership seemed less than the Kings might reasonably have expected.
But Paul, the newest pinch-hitter tried at the top of the GAW order, went early, after striking some lusty blows in the powerplay. In theirs, SLK had got 69, 26 more than Paul, Gurbaz and Hope managed to put together.
Hope (27, 31, 2×6, 1×4) had a life on seven when Ackeem Auguste got both hands to a low chance at backward point but could not hold on. But he did not make SLK pay.
Hetmyer too just cleared Chase with a powerful drive as he sought to up the tempo. And he did his best to get up with the required rate.
He took the long handle to du Plessis’ spinners after Chase accounted for Hope immediately after the water break and Noor Ahmad cleaned up Pretorius’ leg-stump.
When the heavens’ water broke, he was unbeaten on 37, having clouted a pair of sixes off both Ahmad and Chase. And the shower went on long enough to make the umpires call time on the evening’s proceedings.
So it is the Kings who will be awaiting either the defending champions or the Barbados Royals in Sunday’s final. The Saint Lucia franchise have been in the final twice before in 2020 and 2021 but came away empty-handed.
Third time lucky?
Du Plessis told the post-match interviewer that he thinks 2024 is their year—a view shared by Johnson whose form has been a major contributor to the team’s success.
The swashbuckling opener reminded listeners of the triumph of Olympic sprint queen Julien Alfred in Paris in the summer and suggested that the Kings have an obligation to give the queen a king.
What is certain is that, whether it is the Royals or the Warriors who emerge triumphant on Friday, neither will be bringing the Kings any gifts on Sunday evening.
Summarised scores
Toss: St Lucia Kings
Saint Lucia Kings: 198 for 5 (20 overs) Johnson Charles 79, Faf du Plessis 57; Moeen Ali 2/24, Dwaine Pretorius 2/51
Guyana Amazon Warriors: 106 for 4 (13 overs) Shimron Hetmyer 37*, Shai Hope 27, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 24; David 1/3, Alzarri Joseph 1/9
Man-of-the-Match: Johnson Charles
Result: Saint Lucia Kings win by 15 runs (DLS)
Earl Best taught cricket, French, football and Spanish at QRC for many years and has written consistently for the Tapia and the Trinidad and Tobago Review since the 1970’s.
He is also a former sports editor at the Trinidad Guardian and the Trinidad Express and is now a senior lecturer in Journalism at COSTAATT.