JELANI BECKLES (Reporting from Guyana)
WHAT a year 2024 has been for St Lucia in sports, as the country has now claimed a Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League title, after a 12-year wait. This year has been a memorable one after sprinter Julien Alfred won two medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics – the first medals for St Lucia in the history of the Olympics.
St Lucia Kings defeated Guyana Amazon Warriors by six wickets to silence the crowd at the Guyana National Stadium in the CPL final on October 6, denying the Guyana franchise back-to-back titles.
Kings coach Daren Sammy, who is St Lucian, has spoken highly of Alfred since her achievement in Paris in August. Sammy, arguably the most popular sports personality, along with Alfred, can now add a CPL title to his resume, along with two T20 World Cup titles as a West Indies player.
Needing 66 runs off 30 deliveries in pursuit of 139 to win, the Kings needed a productive over, and they got it in the 16th over as spinner Moeen Ali leaked 27 runs and Roston Chase and Aaron Jones went berserk.
The runs continued to flow off the bat of Chase and Jones, as the pair stepped up to the plate after prolific batsmen Faf du Plessis (21) and Johnson Charles (seven) were out cheaply.
The onslaught by Chase and Jones (who has spent most of the tournament on the bench) was too much to handle as Kings closed on 139/4 in 18.1 overs. Jones struck 48 not out off 31 balls and Chase belted 39 not out off 22 deliveries.
The Amazon Warriors had the edge before Jones and Chase took control of the contest.
Medium pacer Romario Shepherd removed Charles with only 23 runs on the board and then dismissed du Plessis as soon as the Kings skipper started to get into a groove. He was caught behind by wicket-keeper Shai Hope for 21 as Ali got the breakthrough.
Another Kings batsman needed to step up, as du Plessis and Charles had been dominant throughout the tournament.
Wickets continued to fall as Ackeem Auguste and Tim Seifert departed in quick succession to leave the Kings on 51/4 after 9.5 overs.
Jones and Chase then became the most popular athletes in St Lucia, at least for the next few hours, delivering a partnership worth 88 runs.
Earlier, it was a dream start for the Kings as left-arm spinner Khary Pierre grabbed the wicket of the dangerous Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the first over, caught by skipper Faf du Plessis at mid-on.
Kings kept the electric Amazon Warriors batsmen quiet in the opening overs as the home team crawled to 7/1 after three overs.
The consistent Shai Hope broke the shackles in the fifth over, hitting left-arm spinner Noor Ahmad for two fours on the off side.
The Kings would have still been the happier team, as after five overs Amazon Warriors were 23/1.
Moeen Ali joined in the fun in the sixth over with a beautifully timed cover drive for four off Alzarri Joseph.
Pierre, a former Trinbago Knight Riders player, kept the batsmen at bay with figures of 1/13 in his first three overs.
The pressure by Pierre led to the wicket of Hope in the next over
