Half-centuries from Evin Lewis (62) and Devon Thomas (55 not out) set a convincing eight-wicket win for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots over Guyana Amazon Warriors on Saturday. Set to chase 147, Lewis and Thomas put on a 133-run stand to reach the target with seven balls to spare. With two wins in two matches, St Kitts and Nevis now sit at the top of the points table.
Patriots started cautiously with just 29 runs in the first five overs. Lewis was more destructive of the two openers, cracking back-to-back sixes off Imran Tahir to end the power-play at 42/0. From the other end, Thomas stayed solid despite being at 11 from 26 balls.
Lewis continued his scoring ways after the powerplay, hitting five sixes and four boundaries overall in his knock of 62 runs off 39 balls. Tahir finally had the last laugh as he got Lewis stumped in his final over of the match. But the platform for St Kitts and Nevis to complete the chase had been laid. Thomas carried his bat through in a unbeaten knock of 55 in 54 balls and finished off the match in style with a boundary off Ashmead Nedd.
Earlier, after electing to bat first, Guyana were reduced to 34/3 in seven overs. Chanderpaul Hemraj stitched a 33-run stand with Shimron Hetmyer. But the duo fell in quick succession, leaving Guyana in trouble at 75/5 in 12 overs.
It required a late flourish from Mohammad Hafeez (38 not out) and Nicholas Pooran (23) to give a late but crucial push to the score. But St Kitts and Nevis struck back again with wickets as Guyana finished with 146 for 8 in 20 overs, which wasn't sufficient to avoid defeat.
Brief scores: St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 147/2 in 18.5 overs (Evin Lewis 62, Devon Thomas 55 not out, Naveen-ul-Haq 1/28) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 146/8 in 20 overs (Chanderpaul Hemraj 39, Mohammad Hafeez 38 not out, Dominic Drakes 3/26, Fawad Ahmed 2/33) by 8 wickets.
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Player of the match: Devon Thomas