Faf du Plessis-led St Lucia Kings won their maiden CPL title in the 2024 season after a low-scoring thriller against Guyana Amazon Warriors.
The Kings chased down the 139-run target with 11 balls remaining at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
Warriors batted first where St Lucia bowlers conceded only 27 runs in powerplay picking the wicket of Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the first over itself. Shai Hope and Moeen Ali tried to stabilise the side but struggled with the slow and sluggish pitch conditions.
Roston Chase and Noor Ahmed were dominant in the middle over as Guyana lost seven wickets for 99 runs in the 18th over. But with the aggressive style from Dwaine Pretorius and Romario Shepherd, the side was able to score 138 runs in their innings.
All Hail the Kings 👑
Saint Lucia Kings dethrone the defending champions Guyana Amazon Warriors to claim their first-ever CPL title! 🏆#CPLonFanCode pic.twitter.com/DpJuwZUJVj
— FanCode (@FanCode) October 7, 2024
Chasing the target of 139, St Lucia Kings started with 40 runs in powerplay. However, the spin combinations of Gudakesh Motie, Imran Tahir, Kevin Sinclar and Moeen Ali gave Guyana a fighting chance in the middle overs.
St Lucia needed 66 runs in 30 balls as they scored only 73 runs in 15 overs. In the sixteenth over, Aaron Jone and Roston Chase turned the table against the bowlers scoring 27 runs.
Following over from Dwaine Pretorius, the batters scored 20 runs and remained unbeaten completing the chase and finishing the campaign. Finally, St Lucia Kings beat Guyana to become CPL 2024 winners.
St Lucia Kings have played consecutive finals during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Meanwhile, Guyana Amazon Warriors has lost six CPL finals. After a low performance throughout the season, The USA cricketer Aaron Jones made an impact in the finals scoring an unbeaten 48 runs in 31 deliveries.
While speaking in the post-match conference, St Lucia Kings head coach Darren Sammy said, “I’ll tell you something, five days ago, Aaron Jones said to me that he will win me the CPL final, I swear to God.”
“And we made one chance today, because the way he looked me in the eye when he said that, I believed that. We did send a message that the Moeen over had to go for plenty. He would his rhythm and I guess the message was well delivered,” he concluded.
Nicholas Pooran was the highest run scorer of the season with a tally of 504 runs while Noor Ahmed was the leading wicket-taker of CPL 2024 picking a total of 22 wickets.
