BASSETERRE, St Kitts, CMC – One devastating over from Man-of-the-Match David Wiese was all it took to derail Barbados Royals’ run chase and condemn them to a last-place finish in the Caribbean Premier League with a game to spare here yesterday.
In pursuit of a challenging 176, Royals raced to 72 for one at Warner Park, courtesy of a 64-run, second wicket stand between Shai Hope who struck an 18-ball 31 and opener Johnson Charles’s 30 off 24 deliveries.
But South African seamer David Wiese, in only his second match of the campaign, snatched three wickets in the ninth over – his second of the innings – removing Charles, Glenn Phillips (0) and Hope in quick succession to set up St Lucia Kings’ 14-run victory under Duckworth-Lewis-Stern.
Wiese finished with five for 25 from his four overs.
A near one-hour rain break at 118 for seven in the 16th over stalled the game leading to a revision in the target to 170 off 19 overs but not even Hayden Walsh Jr’s 18-ball 30 could alter the inevitable.
“At the back end we probably didn’t execute as much as possible. In the middle I think we could’ve been a bit tighter [with the ball],” said a disappointed captain Jason Holder, who top-scored with 34 from 24 balls.
“Having said that, [the total] was still gettable on this wicket. Our batters set it up quite nicely but that over from Wiese where we lost three wickets kind of set us back.”
He added: “We’ve struggled for runs at crucial moments of the tournament and it’s just a case where batters didn’t put their hands up on the big stage.”
South African Faf du Plessis had earlier belted 84 off 54 deliveries to lay the platform for Kings’ 175 for six off their 20 overs after being sent in.
The captain struck five fours and four sixes, putting on 51 for the fourth wicket with Wiese (17) and 46 for the fifth wicket with Tim David whose 34 came from 23 balls and included four fours and a six, to pull Kings around from 34 for three in the sixth over.
In reply, Royals lost Kyle Mayers in the third over for six before Hope and Charles revived the innings but once Wiese weaved his magic, Royals found themselves staring down the barrel at 79 for five in the 11th over.
Holder clobbered a four and three sixes but holed in the deep off the last ball before the rain break, and Walsh tried to win it with a four and three sixes on resumption but the order proved too tall.
“It’s a great win. We were [15 for two] so to get to 170 on a wicket like that was a very good score,” said du Plessis.
“They put up a nice fight at the beginning [of the run chase] but as soon as we broke the back with those three wickets in one over it was pretty much game done.”
The win pushed Kings up to second on ten points while Royals remained rooted to the bottom on four points following their seventh defeat in nine outings.
