Jamaica Kingsmen 182 for 7 (Ayub 102, Hasaranga 2-18, Naseem 2-35, McCoy 2-43) beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 171 for 6 (Fletcher 55, Shanaka 35, Holder 34, Hunain 2-23, Blades 2-50) by 11 runs

It was the Saim Ayub show on Basseterre, but his team, Jamaica Kingsmen, were at various stages run close by St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in their CPL 2026 contest despite putting up a solid 182 for 7, riding on Ayub's 102 off 58 balls. And that was courtesy Andre Fletcher first and then Jason Holder and, even more, Dasun Shanaka.

Patriots, the bottom-placed team in the competition, were three down inside the powerplay with just 42 on the board. That should have meant a stroll to the finish line for Kingsmen, but Fletcher had picked up speed by then and though Mikyle Louis became the fourth to fall by the 11th over, with the total at 64, things started looking healthier for Patriots soon.

Fletcher added 48 in 29 balls with Holder, and after Fletcher fell for 55 in 38 balls to Ayub, now doing his stuff with the ball, Holder and Shanaka associated for 38 more in just 21 balls. It was perhaps a losing battle once Holder was dismissed, with 33 still to get from eight balls, but Shanaka wasn't leaving without making a statement. He did, smashing 19 more in seven balls in the time left to finish with 35 not out in 18, but it was nowhere near enough for Patriots to get their second win.

The slow progress earlier in the chase - between them, Johnson Charles, Kevin Wickham and Louis had criminally used up 34 balls for 24 runs - came back to haunt Patriots in a game they could well have won.

Instead, it was Kingsmen taking back the two points, and it was almost entirely down to Ayub.

Naseem Shah had sent back Keacy Carty first ball, and then Maaz Sadaqat in his next over, the third of the innings, and there wasn't much from No. 4 Kirk McKenzie and No. 5 Usman Khan either. Kingsmen still got 42 in the powerplay, though, which matches what Patriots did later.

Ayub really only got going after the powerplay, and by the time Rovman Powell joined him in the middle, he was on 37 from 25. Not special, but he was getting somewhere.

Powell and Ayub, though, smashed their way to a 72-run stand in just 43 balls, Powell going at 123.52 for his 17-ball 21 but Ayub, by then, playing at another level, hitting 51 in 26 balls in the partnership.

There was support from Keemo Paul after that as Ayub brought up his century off just 57 balls - the second century of CPL 2026 after Tim Seifert's 61-ball 105* in the previous match - and with Paul finishing with 25* in 13 balls, Kingsmen finished strongly. Strongly enough to add a win to their record and rise to fourth place for now.