Tabraiz Shamsi’s shoe phone got a good workout on the night of September 3, as the defending champion Saint Lucia Kings earned their fourth consecutive Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League victory, and became the second team to qualify for the playoffs.
The Kings won by seven wickets with 53 balls remaining at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago. In so doing, they ended the Trinbago Knight Riders’ five-match win streak and avenged themselves for last week’s 18-run home loss.
Shamsi was indubitably the star of the show, as the home team were shot out for just 109 runs in 18.1 overs, their lowest score since the 2023 CPL final. The South African left-arm wrist spinner produced his best spell for the season, grabbing three scalps for just 12 runs from his four overs. It was the second consecutive three-wicket haul. The 35-year-old ran through the middle order, bowling Akeal Hosein, Kieron Pollard, and Andre Russell.
Seven Trinidadian wickets fell to spin. West Indies Test captain Roston Chase and Trinidad and Tobago left-armer Khary Pierre each took two, Pierre starting the devastation in his home country with the wickets of Colin Munro and Darren Bravo inside the first three overs.
Brimming with confidence after hitting the fastest century in CPL history at the weekend, Tim Seifert led a straightforward chase for the champions. The New Zealander smashed 36 runs from 19 balls, inclusive of six fours and a six. The loss of Johnson Charles for one was but a blip. Fellow Saint Lucian Ackeem Auguste blasted 28 from 18, with four fours and a six, as the Kings reached 66-1 after six overs, 25 runs ahead of their hosts at the same stage.
The losses of Seifert and Auguste provided no respite, either. By the 10th over, Roston Chase and Tim David were within sight of the target, at 99-3, 40 runs clear of Trinbago. Chase ended on 27 from 18, and David 17 from 10.
