CPL 2021 Final Highlights: St Kitts and Nevis Patriots are CPL champions for the first time

Cottrell gets run out!! 1 run completed. Cottrell is complaining that Riaz came in his way. But it was not deliberate. Some of the Patriots players are appealing to the umpires from the dugout. Fletcher has a chat with the two umpires and the marching orders are given. Naseem Shah comes to the crease. SNP 151/7 (19). 

Drakes hits a six. It has left everyone confused. The camerman could not follow the trajectory. The on air comms don't know where the ball landed. He is single-handedly trying to win the title here. He hits another 4 in the same over. SNP 150/6 (18.4)

Fabian Allen caught by Keemo Paul!! Yes, he can. Riaz breaks this stand and keeps Kings alive in the contest. SNP- 139/6

2 overs to go. St Kitts and Nevis Patriots need 21 runs. You'd fancy the chasing team in such situations but the Kings need just one wicket to tilt the game. Can Riaz provide that wicket? Some tense faces in the Kings' dugout.

33 off 18 now. That was some smart batting from the pair against the experienced Riaz. They played according to the ball and still got 9 runs from the over. They will look to target Williams

Fabian Allen and Dominic Drakes have taken the attack to David Wiese. First a maximum from Drakes and then a boundary from Allen and that makes it 13 runs in the over. SNP- 118/5 after 16 overs. St Kitts and Nevis Patriots need 42 runs in 24 balls

FOUR, much-needed boundary for the Patriots to end the 15th over. That also ruins the over for Alzarri Joseph. 10 runs came off the over. SNP-105/5 | 55 runs needed in 30 balls.

That's a big one! The skipper is gone! David Wiese working his magic again! Wiese dismisses Patriots captain  DJ Bravo for 8, Keemo Paul takes the catch! SKNP- 95/5 after 14 overs - 65 needed from 36 balls

Rutherford was looking dangerous, but he is caught & bowled by Alzarri Joseph for 25 following Da Silva's departure in the previous over. SNP - 75/4 | 85 required after 10.4

Joshua Da Silva is gone, caught by Wiese!! Kesrick Williams picks up the wicket. That was a poor ball and did not deserve a wicket but a poor shot selection by the batsman leads to his downfall. At the halfway mark, SNP 71-3

SIX! That was short from Wiese and Rutherford pulls it over the mid-wicket boundary. Chase was there and he almost pulled off another blinder but this time the ball sails over. SNP - 40/2 after 6 overs

Evin Lewis played a pull shot but did not connect properly and the ball sails towards mid-wicket. Roston Chase, who was fielding in the deep, dived and got both hands under it. Superbly done! Chase will finish on top of the run charts at CPL21 - he catches his nearest competitor Evin Lewis out on 6! SNP - 26/2 after 4 overs

47(48)* For JT Against GAW (2013) 
54(27) For JT Against GAW (2016) 
1(7) For SKNP Against TKR (2017)
0(4) For SKNP Against SLK (2021)*  

The Gayle Storm has been chased down! Roston Chase bowled it slightly quicker in the air and Gayle is bowled. That's the wicket Kings wanted. SNP- 2/1 after 1 over

Naseem Shah gets rid off Keemo Paul in the second last ball of the innings but that is not before he hits another six in the over. 12 runs of the last over and SLK end at SLK- 159/7. This CPL final was meandering along, but Keemo Paul has dragged St Lucia up to a competitive score. 39 (21) his highest score in T20. 

Keemo Paul giving much-needed impetus to the Kings innings. He has launched into Dominic Drakes and smashed him over the ropes for three times in a row. 19 runs off the over.SLK- 147/6 after 19 ovs

Full and straight from Naseem, Roston Chase goes for the big hit and has his middle-stump pegged back. Roston Chase is gone for 43 from just 40 balls. SLK- 128/6 in 18 ovs

Tim David bowled!! That's a soft dismissal for David - huge blow, this could have been the man to take them to a big score. Tossed up at the stumps, David was through with the sweep, the ball hit the glove, lobbed off the back-pad and then rolled back to hit the base of middle - the zing bails light up and David is distraught as he walks away. SLK 101/5

Roston Chase hits a 6. Expensive finish from Jaggesar - slower and just outside off, Chase leans forward, high elbow and a straight bat as he lifted it over long-on for a maximum - 15 from the over. SLK- 100/ 4

Wiese out. Bowled. He didn't take the opportunity to get that single last ball and now backs away too much and misses this away-spinning ball completely. Jon-Russ Jaggesar was troubling batters with the away angle from round the wicket too. SLK 81/4 after 11.4 overs.

Cornwall bowled. Fabian Allen troubled him last over and now knocks the off stump out. Spinning ball on the off stump, Cornwall looks to loft, misses the line and loses his wicket. Cornwall gone for 43. SLK 76/3 after 10.1 overs.

Cornwall has ensured that the Kings are placed pretty decently at the halfway stage. Losing Fletcher and Deyal in quick succession has hit the team hard. But Cornwall was pretty positive with his straight-batted hits. SLK 76/2 after 10 overs.

Massive six by Cornwall to long-on. Drakes jumps to his left from long-on but it clears him. Important hit to the fence. Jon-Russ Jaggesar went too full and allowed Cornwall to get under the ball. SLK 73/2 after 9.3 overs.

After another late stumping check in the 8th over, Cornwall escapes again. Just 1 run off the over. Saint Lucia Kings 65/2 after 9 overs.

Late appeal for stumping from Joshua Da Silva. Did Cornwall drag the back foot out? Oh hang on! He was well in, but decided to move that back leg unnecessarily. Cornwall batting at 33 while Chase is on 15. SLK 64/2 after 8 overs.

Jon-Russ Jaggesar bowls to Roston Chase and gets hit for another 4. He's pretty good with the cover drive. Tall man, so can get a good stride forward. SLK 62/2 after 7.3 overs.

Chase hits another 4. A straight-batted loft over the leaping bowler. Fawad Ahmed bowls a slot ball, Chase plays a lovely shot down the ground. SLK 57/2 after 7 overs.

Roston Chase hits a 4. He looks to paddle this fine on the leg-side, but the ball takes the bottom and escapes past the man at slip. Fielder ran to the left seeing the batter shape up for the paddle but the ball fooled everyone. SLK 51/2.

Evin Lewis seems to have hurt his left shoulder. He's is in a lot of pain and still down on the ground. Physio tending to him. He is walking off! Hope he can come back to bat. SLK 46/2.

Cornwall makes a hattrick of fours as Saint Lucia Kings race to 46. Cornwall at 29 from 18 balls. SLK 46/2 after 5 overs

Mark Deyal is caught by Rutherford!! Deyal made a massive contribution in the semifinal but Drakes has got him for just one run today. SLK- 33/2

Fletcher out. Caught by Cottrell. A brilliant take running back from mid-on. Cottrell made it look simple but his head seems to have slammed the ground after taking the catch. The physio is out, hope it's not serious. SLK 25/1.

In the second over, Cornwall strikes a four and poses for the cameras too. Flighted full and on the stumps, Cornwall didn't overhit that, just cleared his front leg and hit through the line over mid-off. Cornwall was dropped. SLK 20/0 after 2.3 over

No overs lost. Fletcher and Cornwall resume for St Lucia Kings. SLK 12/0 after 1 over.

Match between Saint Lucia Kings and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots to resume in 10 minutes. Stay tuned for more updates.

The covers are being peeled off. Bright sunshine now. Quite a bit of blue sky in the vicinity. Supersopper being rolled on to suck the water on the covers.

Rain stops play five balls into the CPL final. SLK- 11/0 after 0.5 overs

Fletcher and Cottrell start for St Lucia. After the first 3 balls, Cottrell was hit for a six by Fletcher over mid-on.

I have learnt quite a lot from the last edition and I'm using it to do well this season. We have a good team, there are some good individual players as well, we believe if we play well, we should be winning it. The guys are very pumped up and are looking forward to winning the match today.

I just told them... TKR know this position (in the semi-final), You control your mind and don't lose it. Stay in contention. Fletcher has been going an excellent job, didn't know he was going to captain. Winning one (title) for Saint Lucia was always up there for me. This will mean a lot to me and for Saint Lucia especially in the pandemic times. People can take their minds off from the Covid situation and have something to cheer about. This is going to be an exciting game.

Happy, would have bowled anyway. They play to their strenghts, we play to our strengths. They presented me a shirt with 500 today morning, second player to play 500 T20 games after my friend. One of the reason why I moved here was to put myself in a challenging position, get the team to win trophies. Today we have my experience, Chris, Lewis, Emrit is there.. May the best team win. We are not changing the side, tough luck to the guys missing out.

Faf du Plessis remains out with injury; Kesrick Williams is playing in place of Kadeem Alleyne for the Kings. Patriots are unchanged from their semi-final.

Danny Morrison and Daren Ganga observe that the pitch is 'very hard, should be sliding on. It's also the same pitch used for the semifinals. This is going to be good to bat on, bowlers beware.'

Avg first innings score: 164 (32 matches in the CPL 2021 at Warner Park)

Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Dwayne Bravo(c), Fabian Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Joshua Da Silva(w), Dominic Drakes, Sheldon Cottrell, Naseem Shah, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Fawad Ahmed

Andre Fletcher(w/c), Rahkeem Cornwall, Mark Deyal, Roston Chase, David Wiese, Tim David, Keemo Paul, Jeavor Royal, Alzarri Joseph, Wahab Riaz, Kesrick Williams

Saint Lucia Kings have won the toss and have opted to bat.

Welcome to the much-awaited CPL final. Saint Lucia are in their second successive final, but it's been quite a story for Saint Kitts this time around after managing to win just one game and finishing last in 2020. They changed personnel for 2021. Dwayne Bravo took over reigns and fortunes changed. Stay tuned for live updates