BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE St. Kitts-Nevis Patriots crashed to their fourth defeated in five games to leave their fans in a state of despondency.
The Basseterre-based side latest defeat was on Saturday evening (Sept. 14) at Warner Park when they went under to table-toppers Guyana Amazon Warriors by seven wickets.
In the process the visitors stretched their unbeaten streak to four in as many games.
Playing under damp conditions due to light showers before the game, the Patriots batted first and were put to the sword by the Warriors as they were bowled out for a below par 121 in 19 overs.
Shemar Brroks top scored with 34 to push the total over the 120 mark as batsmen fell cheaply on a good batting surface.
Imran Tahir (2/17) and Qais Ahmad (3/28) were the chief destroyers for the Warriors as they reduced the Patriots to 53 for 5.
West Indies medium-pacer Keemo Paul took two wickets in three balls to put an end to a disappointing batting performance by the home side.
In reply, the Warriors openers, Chanderpaul Hemraj and Brandon King, blasted the Patriots bowlers to all corners of the ground in a stand of 64 off 6 overs.
King topped scored with 49 from 24 balls before he was run out.
Middle order batsman Shimron Hetmyer quickly perished trying to take on Mohammed Hafeez only to be taken on the boundary.
Hemraj also perish going for one too many strokes. However, those were the only significant impact the Patriots made as Nicolas Pooran (18) and captain Sohaib Malik (24) took the visitors to victory with four overs to spare.
Patriots captain Carlos Brathwaite again expressed disappointment in the way the team performed, pointing out that they missed the services of Evan Lewis who was injured before the game.
“So just being able to keep the best players on the Park has been a challenge, and injury is nothing that we can control. As a unit, we haven’t had a proper batting performance for the other two games in a row, and it has been frustrating,” Brathwaite lamented.
The Patriots however turned things around when they took on the St. Lucia Zouks on the following day at the same venue.
More on their victory in a subsequent article.
