Ackeem Auguste takes St Lucia Kings to second place as Shepherd’s blazing knock of 73 of 35 balls goes in vain.
In their CPL 2025 opener on Tuesday, the St Lucia Kings defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors by four wickets thanks to a spectacular 73 off just 35 balls from 21-year-old Ackeem Auguste, who captivated the home crowd, which included his family.
With one game remaining, Kings’ lower order put the finishing touches on their chase of 203, which was completed by skipper David Wiese with 11 balls remaining. This helped them move up to second position, just one point behind the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons.
Five of the six clubs are currently separated by just three points after Kings defeated the Warriors 3-0 in their most recent games. Amazon Warriors had won each of their previous ten CPL appearances, but this was the first time they had scored 200 or more and lost.
Amazon Warriors chose to bat and were given a fast start by Ben McDermott. In the fourth over, Tim David caught both openers, Keon Gaston and Kevlon Anderson, within three balls. The Amazon Warriors ended the powerplay on a shaky 44 for 3 as Moeen Ali lost his middle stump to Khary Pierre for a duck in the following over.
They had to turn back to the striker’s end, but his dive was insufficient. Shimron Hetmyer, who had two fifties in his last three T20 games, called for a second run in the seventh over, but his partner Shai Hope dropped his bat on the way.
Amazon Warriors were in serious trouble at 78 for 5 in the 13th over when Hope skewed one to mid-off after crawling to 23 off 27. However, things quickly changed when Romario Shepherd arrived. In a catastrophic over for the Amazon Warriors, he hit a six off the first ball and then smoked three more consecutively against the same bowler, Oshane Thomas.
The Free struck was maintained after Shepherd struck him for two sixes on the leg side, which also ended out to be no-balls, and after Thomas overstepped after being hit for a four on the second ball, he followed it up with a wide. When Thomas eventually made a legitimate delivery, Shepherd set him up for a six from 95 meters out. Iftikhar Ahmed made 33 from the over by finishing the over with another six. Thomas’ final score was 4-0-63-1. These numbers surpass Wahab Riaz’s 3-0-61-0 from the 2021 CPL as the most costly figures by a Kings bowler.