The defending champion Saint Lucia Kings crashed out of contention for the 2025 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League title on September 19, with a 56-run loss to the Trinbago Knight Riders, in Qualifier 2 at Guyana’s Providence Stadium. The Kings fell woefully short in a chase of 195 for victory, instead ending the season on a four-match losing streak.
Captain David Wiese won the toss and opted to field first on a new pitch. The Kings got off to a flying start, Trinidad & Tobago-born spinner Khary Pierre clean-bowling Colin Munro in the first over. Just 25 runs were taken from the first four overs.
But a 17-run over off Alzarri Joseph was followed by a 19-run over off Wiese, who has been expensive for most of the season. Nicholas Pooran got TKR to 61-1 after the powerplay. Tabraiz Shami and Roston Chase reined things in, with just 20 runs from the next four overs, and a second wicket, that of the dangerous Pooran for 50 from 32 balls.
The 15th over might have begun to swing things towards TKR, as the usually dependable Tabraiz Shamsi allowed three sixes to the explosive Kieron Pollard. Given a life by Wiese in the 16th over, Alex Hales moved from 32 off 33 to 58 off 44 at the close. The Englishman was a spectator in the final over, however, as Andre Russell took 23 runs off the Saint Lucian skipper.
A seesaw innings saw the Knight Riders to a score of 194-4. It was the third-highest score in Qualifier 2 in the history of CPL. Wiese had yielded 42 runs from just two overs.
The Kings’ batting had been misfiring of late, and it did not get back on track on Friday night. Johnson Charles had been hunting for form, and he laboured to 17 runs from 24 balls, as the Kings could only manage 44 runs in the powerplay.
At the other end, Tim Seifert continued his breakout season. He scored 33 from his first 22 balls, and his innings finished on 57 from 40, his third score of at least 50 this season.
Tim David hit a quickfire 28 from 19 balls, only for Seifert and Ackeem Auguste to fall in consecutive balls to Usman Tariq. David followed soon after, at the end of the 115th over, with the score just 108-4.
There were no last-gasp fireworks for the Kings this time around, as they totalled 138-8, unable to accelerate the run rate in the middle overs. Only five players got into double figures. Usman Tariq captured 4-35 from his four overs, Sunil Narine was as stingy as ever, taking 3-18m including Wiese for duck.
