St Lucia Kings 171 for 4 (Pooran 81*, Pienaar 34*, Lades 2-22, Hunain 2-34) beat Jamaica Kingsmen 169 for 9 (Carty 50, Forde 5-23) by six wickets
Kingsmen had almost nothing going their way right from the start, including the toss.
Put in to bat, they were five down in the powerplay as Forde reaped the rewards of the batters’ attacking mindset. He had Saim Ayub, Usman Khan (28 off 11) and Rovman Powell (golden duck) all caught before trapping Hassan Khan lbw with a back-of-the-hand delivery.
But Maheesh Threekshana accounted for Russell soon after Kingsmen crossed 100 when the batter found deep midwicket after his 15-ball 25.
Kingsmen’s biggest stand came almost at the end, when Odean Smith (27 off 17) also belted three sixes to forge a smashing partnership of 53 off 34 balls with Carty. Carty also hit his only six after that and reached his fifty off 42 balls before falling in the last over to become Forde’s fifth victim but only after steering the score past 160.
Kings pretty much cruised through their chase. Opener Tim Seifert, who joined the side after helping Manchester Super Giants lift their maiden Hundred title, handed a return catch to Hunain Shah in the fourth over before Pooran and John Campbell gave them a steady powerplay of 39 for 1.
Kings’ onslaught began from the last ball of the eighth over when Pooran and Campbell put on a sequence of 6, 6, 6 and 4 to bring the asking rate down to under eight an over. Left-arm wristspinner Vitel Lawes gave Kingsmen some hope with a double-wicket first over but the target they had set was not steep enough.
Captain Roston Chase became the victim of a searing yorker from Hunain before Obus Pienaar blitzed 34 off just 14 balls to finish things off with ten balls remaining, while Pooran got his second CPL fifty in four innings.
