SURREY Kings Captain Jeavor Royal says his team played “brilliant cricket” to get them over the line against main rivals Surrey Royals in Monday’s riveting final of the Dream 11 Jamaica T10 championship.

The Kings, who lost by four wickets to the Royals in the final of last year’s inaugural staging of the competition, turned the tables this time around with a five-run win.

Batting first in the championship match at Sabina Park, the Kings recovered from a shaky start which saw them losing international star Andre Russell cheaply, to post 109-7 off their allotted 10 overs.

The Royals also stuttered in their reply before late-order fireworks took them to 104-5, just shy of successfully defending the title they lifted last season.

The dominant Kings ended the tournament losing just once, and that was to the Royals during the preliminary stage. Earlier in the preliminaries they had also defeated the Royals.

Scores: Kings 109-7 (10 overs); Royals 104-5 (10 overs)

“I think we played some good cricket, aside from the first five overs [of the match]… but for the next 15 overs I think we played some brilliant cricket. We lost to them last season — a tight game as well. I’m very happy for this one,” Royal, the Jamaica Scorpions left-arm spin bowler, said during a post-match interview.

The Royals’ skipper Javelle Glenn, though disappointed with the loss, credited his team for pushing the Kings all the way.

“Up to the last over we were still in the game so I can’t fault the guys because we played some really hard cricket. On any given day chasing 110 [runs], you back your batters to get that. But, we finished on the losing side and that’s the game sometimes,” he reasoned.

Earlier, the Royals won the toss and chose to field, ripping through the Kings’ top order to have them reeling at 23-4 inside the fourth over.

Russell, who made 13 from 12 deliveries, was among the early wickets to fall but left-hander Shalome Parnell propped up the innings with a 14-ball 35 not out.

Left-arm seamer Khari Campbell and leg spinner Abhijai Mansingh claimed two wickets each for the Royals.

In reply, the Royals were stifled by miserly opening bowling spells by Russell and fellow West Indies standout, left-armer Sheldon Cottrell.

But another of the Royals all-rounders Odean Smith, another player with West Indies experience, blasted 45 not out from 29 balls to keep the match interesting.

Smith and Peat Salmon (30) took the encounter to the final over with 11 runs to win but when the latter was run out it all but swung the pendulum fully in the Kings’ favour, despite Ojay Shields giving up a wide off what would have been the final delivery of the match.

Royal was the Kings’ best bowler with 2-15.

Royal admitted it was a nail-biter but said Parnell was the difference maker.

“I thought it [109 runs] was enough [to defend] but it’s a final so it’s always going to come down tight, no matter if it’s a low-scoring game or a big-scoring game. Peat Salmon and Odean Smith played brilliantly and it was a bit tense there.

“Shalome Parnell’s innings — I think he made 30-something — took the game away from them, and the bowlers came and took the game from them,” he explained.

Glenn said early spells from Russell and Cottrell left his team with too steep a mountain to climb.

“Two of their international bowlers, you are going to expect some quality from them early up there; I think that was a good point for them. They got two good power play overs up there that brought them in the game up there,” the Royals skipper said.

In the third-place match earlier at the venue, Middlesex Stars defeated Middlesex Titans by 42 runs.

Scores: Stars 115-1 (10 overs); Titans 73-5 (10 overs)