A quickfire 59 off 27 deliveries earned Kimani Melius player of the match honours, but the SAIL Gros Islet Knights were indebted to their bowlers for setting up an easy win on Sunday night in the Saint Lucia Premier League. The Knights defeated Choiseul Craft Masters by five wickets at the Gros Islet Playing Field in the final preliminary fixture for both teams.
The Knights won the toss and elected to bowl, and they backed that decision from the beginning of the Choiseul innings, with targeted bowling and sharp fielding. By the end of the fifth over, spinner Tarrique Edward had accounted for Vince Smith for a duck and Jason Simon for seven, whilst pacer Trent Belfon had taken Audy Alexander for four and Kurt Edward for 12. With the score on 27-4, things were looking parlous for Choiseul.
Murgaran Shoulette’s brief stay at the crease produced just one run, as he was Royce Paul’s sole victim. Alvinaus Simon hit Edward for two fours in the seventh over. But in the eighth, Darvin Forde struck twice. First, he rocked Simon’s stumps, then he had Bronté Bess caught without scoring. A Tarrique Edward maiden and Forde’s removal of Ted Peterson for two left Choiseul reeling at 22-8 at the halfway mark.
Kurstan Jules and Sanjay Pamphile found a bit of momentum, with a 57-run partnership that lasted 37 balls. Pamphile hit 30 from 21 balls, inclusive of three fours and two sixes. Jules, the last man out, made 27 from 39, with five fours.
Choiseul were all out for 102 in 17.4 overs. Forde and Belfon each took three wickets, Forde for 17 runs from 16 balls, and Belfon for 25 from 20. Edward allowed just 14 runs from his 16 legal deliveries, and Royce Paul let in 17 runs. Tyrel Chicot was the only Gros Islet bowler with an economy rate in double figures, his one wicket costing 31 runs.
Gros Islet overhauled the target with 45 balls in hand, despite Denzie Jn Paul’s heroics with the ball for Choiseul. Melius, the tournament’s leading scorer with a whopping 368 runs from six innings, took a few balls to get going. But once he got underway, he was unstoppable.
With just 11 runs on the tins after three overs, Melius doubled the total when he took Bess for a six and a four in the fourth over. He then hit Jules for four more fours in the fifth. Jn Paul took opener Jard Goodman for five, the first of his four wickets.
Unperturbed, Melius rocketed to 49 in the next over, with a four and two sixes off Ted Peterson. He brought up his 50 with another boundary off Jn Paul, then cleared the ropes off the very next ball. Jn Paul’s revenge came too late, even though he had Edward caught for duck off the final ball of that over.
At 77-3 after the eighth over, Gros Islet needed just 26 runs to win, with 72 balls in hand. Khan Elcock fell to Jn Paul for a run-a-ball 11 in the 10th over. A six and a four from Tyrel Chicot brought the equation to less than one run needed per over, and Royce Paul took the team over the line.
After seven league matches, both teams are in the playoffs. The Knights finished third in the preliminaries, after losses to the MCCU Mon Repos Pioneers and SCCA South Castries Lions. The Craft Masters, fourth, lost to South Castries and the league-leading Ackelles City Blasters before falling to Gros Islet. Gros Islet also handed the City Blasters their only defeat, whilst City Blasters beat second-placed South Castries.
The 2025 SPL playoffs begin next Monday at a venue to be determined.
