Auguste's 73 off 35 trumps Shepherd's 73* off 34 to lift St Lucia Kings to second

Twenty-one-year-old Ackeem Auguste enthralled the St Lucia Kings home fans, with his family members in attendance, by smashing 73 off just 35 balls which scripted their four-wicket win over Guyana Amazon Warriors in their CPL 2025 match on Tuesday.

Kings' lower order added the finishing touches in the chase of 203, sealed by captain David Wiese with 11 balls to spare, which helped them jump to second place, only one point behind Antigua and Barbuda Falcons with one game in hand. Only three points separate five out of the six teams now after Kings made it 3-0 over Warriors in their most recent contests. It was also the first time in the CPL that Amazon Warriors have scored 200-plus and lost, winning each of the last ten times they got there.

After opting to bat, Amazon Warriors were given a blazing start by Ben McDermott before Keon Gaston had the two openers, Kevlon Anderson the other, caught by Tim David in the space of three balls in the fourth over. Moeen Ali then lost his middle stump to Khary Pierre for a duck in the next over and Amazon Warriors finished the powerplay on a precarious 44 for 3. The fall of Shimron Hetmyer, who had two fifties in his last three T20 knocks, added to their woes - he called for a second run in the seventh over, but his partner Shai Hope dropped his bat on the way; Hetmyer had to turn back to the striker's end but his dive wasn't enough.

When Hope skewed one to mid-off after crawling to 23 off 27, Amazon Warriors were in real trouble at 78 for 5 in the 13th over. But the arrival of Romario Shepherd changed things straightaway as he smashed a six first ball before smoking three more in a row against the same bowler - Oshane Thomas - in what was a disastrous over for Amazon Warriors. After being hit for a four on the second ball, Thomas overstepped, and followed that with a wide, which kept the Free Hit in place, and Shepherd walloped him for two sixes on the leg side, which also turned out to be no-balls, and kept the Free Hits coming. Thomas finally delivered a legal delivery, and Shepherd lined him up for a 95-metre six. Iftikhar Ahmed ended the over with another six to make it 33 from the over. Thomas eventually finished with 4-0-63-1. These are the most expensive figures by a Kings bowler in the CPL, going past Wahab Riaz's 3-0-61-0 from CPL 2021.

Warriors' run rate had shot up from 6.78 to 8.53 now with five overs to go. Wiese conceded only 18 from his last two but Shepherd went after Gaston for a 27-run over with two fours and two sixes, along with six wides in it. Gaston got the last over too and a wide after three balls might have sent shivers through the Kings dugout, but he ended things nicely with just three runs off the last three. Warriors had posted 202 thanks to Shepherd's 23-ball fifty that was studded with seven sixes, and Gaston's night ended with 4-0-57-2.

Johnson Charles and Tim Seifert started things nicely in the chase and even though Charles fell in the second over, Seifert and Auguste joined hands to power them to 86 in the powerplay by taking on Jediah Blades, Moeen and Imran Tahir.

Motie and Tahir slowed things down by conceding just 25 in the next four while Auguste got his maiden CPL fifty, the fastest of this season overall, off only 19 balls. Tahir and Motie pegged Kings back with the wickets of Seifert and Chase, although they needed a comfortable 67 from the last 48 balls. Auguste soon holed out for 73 off 35 before Aaron Jones and David brought the asking rate under six an over. David and Jones also fell towards the end before consecutive boundaries from Pierre and Wiese finished things off.