Deyal, Wiese put St. Lucia Kings in the CPL 2021 final

The defining moment of the first CPL 2021 semifinal came off the last ball of the 16th over. Trinbago Knight Riders needed 46 to win from 25 and their captain Kieron Pollard had just launched David Wiese over the stands behind the long-off and out of Warner Park. The shot brought a temporary stoppage in play. Off the next ball, Wiese stuck to his line outside Pollard's off-stump but banged the ball short. Pollard could only connect with his outside edge with his attempted cut shot and the keeper held on to a simple catch.

Up in the stands, Kings' head coach Andy Flower whooped in celebration. The injured Faf du Plessis exchanged high-fives with assistant coach Roddy Estwick. There would be no heartbreak in the repeat of last season's final. Eventually, Wiese finished with his second five-fer (5 for 39) in three days as the Kings progressed to their second straight title clash in a tournament that will now crown a new champion.

As is their wont, the Knight Riders fought right to the end in a chase of 205 but for a change, were unable to put their opponents away when they'd moved slightly ahead. Despite losing Lendl Simmons early, the Knight riders had 66 in the PowerPlay with Sunil Narine and Colin Munro laying the perfect platform for a successful chase.

It was Wiese, who misjudged a catch at extra cover off Narine, who brought the Kings back. In a double-wicket over, he first had Narine caught at mid-off and then Munro played on to a short and wide delivery.

Knight Riders fought through a steady partnership between Denesh Ramdin and Darren Bravo with the latter using his matchup advantage over prolific wicket-taker Jeavor Royal in a 15-run over. But again, just as the Knight Riders seemed to have wrested control again, they were pegged back when Wahab Riaz flattened Bravo's middle-stump. Out walked Pollard with 84 to get off 43 balls. He hit 26 off those from just 13 balls; but the Knight Riders didn't have enough firepower after his dismissal to score the remaining runs.

Earlier in the day, the Kings, who elected to bat on a good surface, were propped up by a sizzling 78 from Mark Deyal, who walked in to bat at 1 for 1. The southpaw got to a 23-ball half-century and over a 44-ball innings smashed half-a-dozen sixes and five fours. He was helped through the knock by the fact that the opposition had two left-arm spinners, Akeal Hosein and Khary Pierre, bowling into his hitting arc.

The Kings appeared to have undone all their good work just before the death when overs 12 to 16 brought only 12 runs but Tim David and Wiese got together to remedy that stutter with a blistering finish that brought 70 runs from the final over overs to take the total beyond 200 and well past the reaches of the defending champions.

Brief scores: St Lucia Kings 205/4 in 20 overs (Mark Deyal 78, Tim David 38*; Sunil Narine 1-12) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 184 in 19.3 overs (Sunil Narine 30, Denesh Ramdin 29; David Wiese 5-39) by 21 runs.