Keemo Paul puts in big all-round show to lift Kingsmen to second place

Jamaica, 19 Aug-Jamaica Kingsmen 181 for 6 (Paul 65, Powell 49, Hasaranga 2-36, Netravalkar 2-43) beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 130 (Wickham 37, Paul 3-30, Russell 2-19) by 51 runs

Late-innings hitting from captain Rovman Powell and Keemo Paul and timely wickets from their bowlers lifted Jamaica Kingsmen from the bottom of the CPL 2026 points table straight to second place with their second win on the bounce.

Kingsmen defended 181 in front of their home crowd in Kingston with a massive margin of 51 runs and finally injected some life into their campaign after having started with three losses. St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, on the other hand, lost their second game in three after failing to recover from a start of 31 for 3 in the fifth over, which became 64 for 5 by the ninth, and ended at 130 all out in 18 overs.

Kingsmen themselves started shakily after being put in to bat. They were reeling at 0 for 2 in the first over after Saurabh Netravalkar removed Kirk McKenzie and Keacy Carty for ducks, the batters chopping on and edging behind respectively. Reeza Hendricks and Usman Khan steered them out of troubled waters briefly before Wanindu Hasaranga removed the two in consecutive overs to leave Kingsmen on 54 for 4 in the eighth. It was all about Powell and Paul from there.

Paul started with an audacious reverse sweep on his first ball, taking four off Hasaranga in the tenth over, before hitting him for another boundary. Powell soon took on Netravalkar and Paul went after CPL debutant Nikhil Chaudhary, but the real carnage started only after 15 overs when Kingsmen were 114 for 4.

Paul walloped Hasaranga for two sixes over long-on and brought up a 30-ball fifty with a six off Netravalkar in the next over. A sequence of 6, 6, 4, 4 - all off Paul's bat - made it a 22-run over before Jason Holder's back-of-the-hand slower ball had Paul holing out at long-on for 65 off 36 to end the fifth-wicket stand on 99 off 63 balls. Powell handed a return catch to Obed McCoy after carting him for a six the previous ball and Andre Russell faced only seven balls to finish uneaten on 14 after two sixes. Patriots' start almost mirrored that of Kingsmen but they could hardly replicate the revival of the home side.

Hassan Khan had Andre Fletcher caught at mid-on in the first over, Hunain Shah drew Johnson Charles' edge for the keeper, and Paul squared up Kyle Mayers with a peach of a delivery that hit off stump and Patriots were 31 for 3 in the fifth over.

Kevin Wickham dropped anchor as the Kingsmen bowlers continued to strike. Chaudhary was trapped lbw by a Vitel Lawes legbreak and Dasun Shanaka was run out after a collision with Wickham in the middle of the pitch while they were attempting a second run.

Navin Bidaisee joined Wickham to stall the fall of wickets for five overs and they steered the score past 100, but the asking rate had crossed 12 with seven overs to go. Patriots retired out Bidaisee for 19 off 16 at the end of the 14th over to bring on Holder but the captain lasted just four balls as Russell had him caught at cover.

With 71 required from 30 and only three wickets left, Russell continued to stifle them, also sending Wickham back in the 17th over, and Paul fittingly took the last two wickets to seal the thrashing with 3 for 30 in their last home game, in Kingston, this CPL.Cricinfo