The Saint Lucia Kings suffered back-to-back losses after falling to the Barbados Tridents by eight wickets on Sunday night at Kensington Oval. This defeat puts extra pressure on their playoff hopes as they try to finish in the top four.
Even though Tim Seifert was out early, Kamil Pooran kept the runs coming and took the team to 51 after the powerplay. Pooran played well, making 37 from 24 balls. But the runs slowed down in the middle overs, and the Kings were 63 for 2 halfway through. Captain Roston Chase held the innings together with a steady 34, but with few boundaries from the other batsmen, the Kings finished on 138 for 6 from their 20 overs.
To defend a low total, the team needed early and regular wickets, but the Boys in Blue could not manage that. Zachary Carter and Brandon King put on 41 runs for the first wicket. Then, Quinton de Kock and Rivaldo Clarke added an unbeaten 76-run partnership to seal the win for the Tridents and end their four-game losing streak.
Head Coach Daren Sammy spoke about his team’s chances of making the playoffs in a post-match interview:
“It seems like every time we’ve had crucial pressure games, we don’t seem to come up with what’s needed to be victorious. The opposition always seems a little bit more hungry than us, and the results don’t go in our favour.
“We’ve left ourselves with one game. We need to win against Guyana in Guyana on the 9th, and then probably wait on other results to decide our fate for the playoffs. It’s nobody’s fault. We just have not been good enough for long enough in this season.
“But with all that said, we still have a chance of qualifying for the playoffs, and in a knockout match, you never know what could happen. But we really got to blame ourselves. We’ve not been good consistently with the bat, ball, and in the field, and the stats don’t lie. That’s why we’re still fourth, with eight points, five losses.”
Now, the Boys in Blue have to win their last game against the undefeated Guyana Amazon Warriors and hope other results go their way to reach the next round.
