ST KITTS and Nevis Patriots captain Chris Gayle insists he will not blame any one particular player following a narrow three-wicket loss to the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Saturday.

The Patriots found themselves on the back foot early on after finishing with what seemed a subpar score of 135 for 6. However, a superb bowling performance kept the first-time finalists in the game as TKR were in trouble at 67-5. Kevon Cooper, however, put together a brilliant innings of 29 from 14 deliveries to take the game away from the Patriots.
The all-rounder was particularly brutal in taking 22 from Ben Hilfenhaus’ third over, the 19th. The pace bowler previously had figures of 2-11 from his first two overs, but many believe it was a mistake to bowl him in the penultimate over. Gayle, however, refused to apportion any blame in the bowler’s direction.
“I’m not going to point any fingers towards anyone. We win as a team and we lose as a team,” Gayle said.
“Hopefully this franchise actually takes this and moves forward. Try and build on this as a great young team, we’ll try and see what the future holds for this franchise and Chris Gayle as well.”
The Australian bowled two wides first up, before a no-ball was smacked for six. The follow-up free hit also went for four, meaning he had, in essence, bowled one ball for 11 runs.