NORTH SOUND – The St Kitts and Nevis Pa­tri­ots over­came a half-cen­tu­ry from home­town boy Jew­el An­drew to reg­is­ter an ex­cit­ing one-wick­et vic­to­ry over the An­tigua and Bar­bu­da Fal­cons in the open­ing match of the Caribbean Pre­mier League at the Sir Vi­vian Richards Sta­di­um in An­tigua on Thurs­day.

In pur­suit of the Fal­cons’ score of 163-4 off their 20 overs, the Pa­tri­ots got home when An­rich Nort­je scam­pered a sin­gle off the last ball bowled by Roshon Primus to fin­ish on 164-9 in 20 overs.

It was the per­fect start to the tour­na­ment for the Pa­tri­ots, who won just one game in the 2023 CPL, while fin­ish­ing bot­tom of the ta­ble.

Af­ter win­ning the toss and send­ing the Fal­cons in­to bat, the home side found them­selves on the back­foot when Nort­je bowled Ted­dy Bish­op for one to leave them 7-1.

Fakhar Za­man and Kofi James then added 60 runs for the sec­ond wick­et, be­fore Tabraiz Sham­si dis­missed Za­man for 43 and James fol­lowed soon af­ter for 22, as the Fal­cons slid to 80-3 in the 11th over.

Sam Billings made 18 be­fore he was dis­missed by Do­minic Drakes, as the Pa­tri­ots took con­trol of the con­test.

But An­drew and Fabi­an Allen came to­geth­er to blast 61 runs from the fi­nal six overs to bol­ster the Fal­cons’ to­tal.

The 17-year-old An­drew, on his CPL de­but, belt­ed an un­beat­en 50 from 30 balls, with sev­en fours and one six, while Allen, who fin­ished on 24 not out from 17 balls, hit one bound­ary and two six­es.

He brought up his 50 in the fi­nal over when he punched fast bowler Ryan John to deep mid­wick­et for a sin­gle.

In their run chase, the Pa­tri­ots were giv­en a fly­ing start by open­ers Evin Lewis and cap­tain An­dre Fletch­er, with the pair adding 37 runs in­side five overs.

Fletch­er was the first to go, stumped off the bowl­ing of left-arm spin­ner Imad Wasim for 25.

By the time Lewis was caught at long off try­ing to hit Shamar Springer out of the ground for 29, the Pa­tri­ots were 71-2 af­ter eight overs.

It took a re­spon­si­ble in­nings from Man-of-the-Match Kyle May­ers to keep the Pa­tri­ots in the con­test af­ter Springer ac­count­ed for the wick­ets of Tris­tan Stubbs (2), Odean Smith (27) and Rilee Rossouw for a duck, to see them slip to 111-5.

May­ers struck 39 from 24 balls, in­clu­sive of three fours and two six­es, but his dis­missal in the 16th over with the score 133-6, left the game in the bal­ance.

Things got even more in­tense when Ryan John, Do­minic Drakes and Ash­mead Nedd lost their wick­ets for the ad­di­tion of on­ly five runs to leave Pa­tri­ots 159-9.

With sev­en runs need­ed from Primus’ last over, Nort­je and Sham­si held their nerves to lead their team to vic­to­ry.

Springer end­ed with 4-29 from his four overs and Primus 2-21 from two overs.

CMC

SCORES

AN­TIGUA & BAR­BU­DA FAL­CONS 163-4 in 20 overs (Jew­el An­drew 50 not out, Fakhar Za­man 43, Fabi­an Allen 24 not out, Kofi James 22, Sam Billings 18)

ST KITTS & NEVIS PA­TRI­OTS 164-9 in 20 overs (Kyle May­ers 39, Evin Lewis 29, Odean Smith 27, An­dre Fletch­er 25, Do­minic Drakes 17; Shamar Springer 4-29, Roshon Primus 2-21).

St Kitts and Nevis Pa­tri­ots won by one wick­et.