THE St Kitts and Nevis Patriots secured a seven-run win over the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) to stay in contention for a 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) play-off spot.

Patriots won the toss and chose to bat in this must-win game, but were restricted early on as the Knight Riders rotated five bowlers across the power-play.

Sherfane Rutherford changed the complexion of the innings with a brilliant 78 off 50 balls, aided by a spectacular cameo from Dewald Brevis 30 (off six balls, 5×6), to take the Patriots to 163-6.

In their chase, the TKR struggled to build partnerships as wickets fell regularly. Despite this, they remained with a chance of winning the match as Tim Seifert and Andre Russell scored crucial late runs, but it proved to be in vain as they could only muster 156-7, losing by seven runs.

Patriots were frustrated by the bowling of the Knight Riders in the first 10 overs, reaching 43-3 and having lost the key wicket of Evin Lewis.

Rutherford then shouldered the responsibility of carrying the innings as he patiently scored runs before accelerating in the last three overs, to finish on 78. Brevis remarkably scored 30 runs from just six balls, constantly clearing the boundary to propel the Patriots to 163-6.

TKR lost the early wickets of Leonardo Julien and Colin Munro in their chase, with spinners Kevin Sinclair and Rashid Khan restricting the runs. Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran then lost their wickets as the TKR found themselves in serious trouble.

Seifert kept the chase alive with a valiant half-century. Despite Russell scoring 18 runs in the 19th over, it was not to be enough, as Sheldon Cottrell delivered a composed final over to take the Patriots to victory by seven runs. (CPL)