The two senior bowlers on the St Kitts/Nevis Patriots team went for 90 runs and after this, it was always going to be difficult to keep the St Lucia Zouks from winning their third match of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020 tournament at the Brian Lara Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando yesterday morning.
SCORES: St Lucia Zouks 172/6 versus St Kitts/Nevis Patriots 162/8. Zouks won by 10 runs.
West Indies seamer Sheldon Cottrell leaked 49 runs from his four overs while Pakistani Sohail Tanveer gave away 41, although he grabbed two wickets, as the Zouks prospered, due to the duo's poor work.
Au contraire, Zouks off-spinner Roston Chase was brilliant in taking 3/12 off his four overs, to break their batting and restrict the Patriots to 162/8.
Earlier, opener Fletcher smoked 46 off 33 balls with one six and six fours, while Mark Deyal hammered 30 off 17 balls with three sixes. When these two finished their work, the Afghan pair of Najibullah Zadran 28 off 24 balls with three sixes and Muhammad Nabi 35 not out off 22 balls with three sixes and a four, took over.
The final three overs brought 45 runs and this pushed the score well beyond the 150-run mark that looked possible earlier on. Skipper Rayad Emrit was brilliant with the ball in taking 1/14 off his four overs, while spinner Jon Russ Jaggessar took 2/29 but the others struggled. The combined 12 overs from Emrit, Jaggesar, and Ish Sodhi went for 82 runs.
Chase was as tight as the T&T economy and conceded just 12 runs from his four overs and took three wickets for good measure. He adopted a tight line and allowed the batsmen to make the errors. Those who fell for his trap were Evin Lewis who scored a rapid 29, Joshua Da Silva (1) and Australian Ben Dunk (5).
Da Silva dropped after a 41-ball 41 in the opening match, seemed confused and attacked a delivery that was just not there. He will have to sit and have a clear batting plan moving forward. No doubt the drop after his 41 not out would have left him thinking about what was the right approach.
Ramdin, using all his experience then kept his team in the game with 46 runs from 35 balls with two sixes and two fours. However, a slew of wickets from overs 10 to 17 saw their intensity drop and although Cottrell slammed 26 not out off 11 balls with three sixes, they fell 10 runs short in the end. Ramdin was good at manoeuvring the ball and upped the tempo when it was required. He faced 35 balls, striking two sixes and two fours.
New Zealander Scott Kuggeleijn was brilliant towards the end in taking 4/33 to hasten the Patriots' demise.
Emrit, speaking after the loss, said: "We lost the plot in the last two overs. A score of 160 would have been within our reach. The pressure is now on us but we have been in this position before, so I see no reason why we can't make it to the semis."
Zouks skipper Darren Sammy said: "We don't have superstars but skill level is right up there. Good mix, boils down to execution, did that really well."
SCORES GAME 7
At BLCA: St Lucia Zouks 172/6 (20) (Andre Fletcher 46, Muhammad Nabi 35no, Mark Deyal 35, Najibullah Zadran 28, Jon Russ Jaggesar 2/29, Sohail Tanvir 2/41, Rayad Emrit 1/14) vs St Kitts/Nevis Patriots 162/8 (20) (Denesh Ramdin 46, Evin Lewis 29, Sheldon Cottrell 26no, Roston Chase 3/12, Scott Kuggeleijn 4/33) - Zouks won by 10 runs.
Man of the match: Muhammad Nabi.
