Cpl

The Tridents shuffled their batting order, Justin Greaves coming into the XI to open, but he lasted only one ball as he fell LBW trying to sweep Amazon Warriors captain Chris Green. Johnson Charles fell to a magnificent catch by Shimron Hetmyer who sprinted 25 yards and dived full length, sending the bowler Kevin Sinclair into another athletic celebration.

Jason Holder had only himself to blame for being run out by T20 debutant Kissoondath Magram, meaning the openers and captain had all fallen for 0. Shai Hope was shifted down to five but fell for another low score, chipping a catch back to Sinclair.

The Tridents, who had won the toss and chosen to bat, were 9 for 4 in the fourth over, and added just five more runs before the end of the Powerplay - the second lowest-scoring in Hero CPL history. Green bowled out with another maiden, Sinclair’s last over went for just three, and the Tridents were 17 for 4 after eight overs.

More poor calling saw the fifth wicket fall, as Jonathan Carter set off, was sent back by Kyle Mayers and was caught short of his ground by yards. Mayers followed Carter back to the dugout two balls later top-edging a pull, keeper Nicholas Pooran taking a brilliant catch running towards the boundary, and at halfway the Tridents were a staggering 22 for 6.

Tahir’s second over was survived, but in the next over Naveen and the Amazon Warriors picked up two more. First Ashley Nurse pulled straight to Romario Shepherd at deep square leg, then Raymon Reifer looped the ball up to Pooran off his glove while playing forward, leaving the Tridents 27 for 8 after 12.

Mitchell Santner finally hit the Tridents’ first boundaries, swinging Tahir for a Hero Maximum then straight driving for four. Santner then lofted Magram for a Hero Maximum to take the Tridents past the lowest score in Hero CPL history - 53 all out back in 2013 by the Trinidad franchise. Rashid Khan slapped two sixes off Keemo Paul, but Rashid fell trying to slice Naveen over the off-side, Sinclair taking a good catch at deep cover.

Naveen finished with venue-record T20 figures, and the Tridents were 79 for 9 off 18. Hayden Walsh Jr slapped a four off Paul, and while Santner was run out off the last ball, they and Rashid had at least ensured the Tridents had batted the whole innings and got a recognisable T20 total - the same total they failed to chase against the St Lucia Zouks at Queen’s Park Oval on Sunday.

Holder had two slips in place for his first over, a maiden to Brandon King.  Santner got some drift, almost swing, with his arm-ball, but dropped short enough for King to crash a cut for four. Holder finally conceded his first run off his 11th ball via a Sinclair edge and Santner’s second went for just one.

Holder attacked with Rashid in the Powerplay, and while the Afghan fired five wides, he beat Sinclair all ends up and knocked back his off-stump.  Hetmyer was lucky to inside-edge for four past the stumps first ball, and to see a pull-off Holder fall just short of Santner at mid-on, but King lofted the last ball of Holder’s over over long leg for a Hero Maximum to take the Amazon Warriors to 31 for 1 off the Powerplay.

Hetmyer fell to Walsh to continue his run of low scores, beaten through the gate, and with Pooran in early off the back of his brilliant century against the Patriots, Holder attacked with his wrist-spinners in tandem. King was lucky to survive a wild swipe off Walsh, but the wrist-spin attack was just about seen off and King cashed in by cutting Nurse for four. At halfway, the Amazon Warriors were 52 for 2.

First ball after the break, King hammered a flat Hero Maximum off Holder and the over went for 10. Nurse was nudged around, but King had started to find his feet and whipped Rashid hard for four to take the Amazon Warriors to 72 for 2 off 13. King took his score to 40 and his strike rate over 100 with an inventive flick off the stumps over short fine leg for four, and Santner was milked for six to take the required runs under double figures.

Walsh dropped a tough diving catch to deny Rashid a second wicket, but King was able to bring up his first 50 of the season with the score-levelling stroke. Pooran nudged the run that confirmed a win that hadn’t looked in doubt for the majority of the 36.4 overs bowled tonight and ensured that Hero CPL 2020 lightning would not strike twice.

Hetmyer blasted an enterprising 56 from 35 balls in a low-scoring encounter as the Warriors eased past the St Lucia Zouks book their place in the competition’s semi-finals.  The win was the fifth but third in a row for the Guyana based franchise.

The team won two of its first three matches but then struggled to keep momentum after losing the next three games in a row.  Hetmyer, however, believes the team’s latest win shows full confidence is growing within the squad following its latest win.

“The guys are starting to work much harder than before and starting to believe in ourselves a little more each and every day.  From here on out its just us taking it one game at a time,” Hetmyer said.

Personally, his individual performance would also have been pleasing for Hetmyer who failed to get into double digits in the last three games with scores of 9 and 1.

“It’s coming back I thought I lost it a few years ago, but I’m working on it and trying to stay a little bit more focused on my game and how to start, build and finish and innings.”

After a Powerplay charge, the Amazon Warriors lost 10/62 as Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Sandeep Lamichhane ran riot. But last year’s finalists roared back with the ball to take bursts of 3/4 and 4/25, leaving the Tallawahs needing 60 from the last 4 overs, from which position even Russell at his most devastating wasn’t enough.

After Tallawahs captain Rovman Powell elected to bowl, Fidel Edwards generated significant swing, but Oshane Thomas was wayward and Brandon King punished him mercilessly. The fact that one of his Hero Maximums was off a no-ball because too many fielders were behind square on the leg-side added insult to injury. Thomas was not seen again with the ball.

Chandrapaul Hemraj was quick to pounce on anything short from either Mujeeb or Russell, and with King continuing to time the ball sweetly, the Amazon Warriors raced to 56/0. All seemed to be going swimmingly.

But Mujeeb sparked a remarkable turnaround. First, a ball skidded past King’s sweep, then next ball the in-form Shimron Hetmyer was done by a quicker off-spinner. When Hemraj steered the first ball after the Powerplay to the fielder at point, the Amazon Warriors had slumped from 56/0 to 57/3 inside four balls.

That became 67/4 when Nicholas Pooran tried to cut Mujeeb and edged behind. Sensing an opportunity Powell went on the attack, introducing Lamichhane and keeping a slip in. So panicked were the Amazon Warriors that Sherfane Rutherford came out with two left gloves.

Lamichhane did not disappoint. His first over was tight, and in his second his googly spun big to leave Rutherford only able to give Mujeeb a second catch at point. Ross Taylor found himself fighting a lone hand, and the Amazon Warriors found themselves in a hole at 85/5 after 12 overs.

That hole got deeper still. Keemo Paul skied to Phillips trying to pull Carlos Brathwaite’s third ball, Amazon Warriors skipper Chris Green lost his leg-stump to Lamichhane, and eventually, Taylor clipped Brathwaite straight to deep midwicket to leave the Amazon Warriors 99/8 after 16 overs.

Naveen-ul-Haq showed a deft touch, but debutant Ashmead Nedd couldn’t stay with him as he was farcically run out. Naveen tried to hit out but gave mid-off a simple catch to give Brathwaite a third wicket and put the final nail in the coffin - or so it seemed.

At the start of the chase, Green sparked panic with a pair of LBWs, removing Chadwick Walton with the first ball of the innings and ending Nkrumah Bonner’s first Hero CPL game since 2016 shortly after, courtesy of a bad decision from the usually reliable Brathwaite. Imran Tahir got a rare outing in the Powerplay and threatened immediately with a maiden.
Nedd’s debut may not have gone well with the bat, but the first ball of his T20 career removed Glenn Phillips. Asif Ali joined captain Powell in the fourth over with the score 4/3, and though he was beaten with his first two balls he got off the mark with a commanding cut shot.

The Amazon Warriors bowled, fielded and appealed as though angered by their own batting, and the intensity didn’t let up after the Powerplay. Naveen let rip some whole-hearted LBW appeals, Nedd got bounce and sharp turn, and Paul hit Powell on the helmet with his first ball.
While Asif was dropped at long leg by Nedd, he would not get a second life. Hetmyer held his nerve at long-on and sent the Tallawahs to the drinks break reeling. Naveen kept the pressure on, and Nedd was unplayable at times. At 41/4 after 12, the Tallawahs had to confront the possibility of losing an unlosable game, and that became even more real when Brathwaite was bowled by Paul.

Nedd finished a remarkable debut with four dot balls to Russell, and the Tallawahs now needed 69 from the last six overs before Powell clubbed Naveen down Green’s throat to leave Russell still to get off the mark and batting with the tail.

Russell finally hit his first Hero Maximum of the tournament off Imran Tahir, who returned to trap Lamichhane LBW for a duck. When Russell took the 17th over for 11 runs, the 18th for 17, and the first two balls of the 19th for 10, it looked like he was going to win yet another game single-handedly.
But Naveen responded with four dot balls in a row, and crucially kept Russell off strike for the last over.

Paul’s execution was perfect, and though Russell battered a Hero Maximum onto the roof to bring up 50 it was too late. Both sides will be wondering what happened after 39.1 overs that defied logic.

The rugged Zouks have shown plenty of determination so far.  In battling their way to the CPL final, without an established superstar, few would disagree that they have defied the odds. 

Even that, however, might not be enough against the Knight Riders, who have been the league’s best team by a distance this season, winning 10 straight matches.  Sammy insists the underdogs will not be overawed.   

“It will all come down to execution.  It’s a big final they have an experienced team with guys who have played finals before, but the mental toughness of my team showed throughout the tournament,” Sammy said at a pre-match press conference on Wednesday.

“We don’t give up until it’s over and I know that can pull us through.  I know I will have a full team believing they can go out and play a full brand of cricket,” he added.

Not many would have had the Tallawahs as favourites to claim the Caribbean Premier League title, particularly after a mid-tournament slump that saw them win just two of seven games.  On Friday, the Jamaica-based franchise proved their doubters wrong, however, after securing an 8-wicket win over the Barbados Royals.

The Royals, on the other hand, were the team of the tournament after winning 8 of 10 matches before automatically advancing to the final.  According to Powell, proving critics wrong was one of the team’s major motivations.

"Adjectives cannot describe how I feel right now. We endured a lot of disrespect throughout the tournament so to be here now is amazing. We used the disrespect that we endured as motivation. We were hungry,” Powell said, following the match.

“The guys were very hungry. I told them to hang in and that we have a lot of batters and we can get it. The first 100 that Brandon scored, it was in a losing cause and so the guys felt really hurt that it was in a losing cause but we told the guys that's what big boy cricket is about,” he added.

"So, to see Brooks score a 100 the other night in a win was special. I've captained a few teams and franchises before I captained Jamaica so I've been learning. Sometimes I feel down and out because I'm human, but my family rallied around me. I wanna say a special thanks to the Guyanese supporters.”

The win was the first for the Jamaica franchise against their Trinidad and Tobago opponents in 7 games, dating back to the 2017 season.  For his part, Powell played a crucial role in snapping that streak, with a patient 67 from 49 deliveries and a crucial fourth-wicket partnership with Raymond Reifer, worth 90 to the Tallawahs in a total of 153 for 7.

With the ball, however, the Tallawahs also made runs exceptionally hard to come for the Knightriders led by Mohammad Amir’s 2 for 15 at 3.75 at an economy rate of 3.75.  Powell was delighted by the team’s all-around effort, which restricted the Knight Riders to 119 for 8.

“In all three aspects of the game, the guys played well.  We haven’t beaten Trinidad in a long time so we wanted to do that,” Powell said following the match.

“We came out of the Power Play a little bit shaky but we got stuck in and I think the guys bowled really well,” he added.  

The win was the first of the campaign for the Patriots, but it did not come easily.  In fact, chasing 162 for victory, the team seemed set for a third straight loss after needing 22 from the final over.  Some big hitting from Dwaine Pretorius, however, put away some wayward bowling by Romario Shepherd.

The team’s campaign began with losses to the Jamaica Tallawahs and Barbados Royals and despite getting on the board Bravo, who has himself battled injuries early on, believes the team has plenty of adjustments to make.

“Even with this win we still have a lot to improve and when we get into the dressing room we will highlight those moments,” Bravo said following the match.

“To restrict them to 160 odd we would have been happy at the halfway stage because they are a very good batting line-up.  We know they have quality spinners but with our line-up, we don’t believe spin is a threat to our line-up.  At key moments we kept giving our opposition some momentum to come back into the game.  These are the things we have to talk about, even though we won, we made a lot of mistakes.”

After making what looked to be around a part score of 150, the home franchised seemed well on their way to a comfortable win after pushing the Warriors to the verge of defeat at 89 for 7.

A stubborn last-ball partnership between Tabraiz Shamsi and Junior Sinclair, which was worth 24 from 18 deliveries, however, briefly gave the team a few nervous moments before Andre Russell ended the innings.

The Knight Riders' mood would not have been helped by a poor start to CPL managing just one win in their prior 5 matches.  Pollard is, however, hopeful that the team’s latest win will provide a bit of momentum.

“The guys wanted it badly and it was a total team effort.  Things haven’t gone the way that we would have liked but one thing I can say is the guys come in day in, day out, and out in the practice and believe in the process and finally we got the win at home,” Pollard said following the match.

“Hopefully we can go back and look at where we can still do better for the next few matches.”

The recently concluded edition of the tournament, which was won by the Trinbago Knight Riders, did feature some of the region’s emerging talent.  In fact, a list of 20 young players was, as is required, named ahead of the tournament and several players featured prominently throughout the competition. 

The list included Alick Athanaze, Joshua Bishop, Leniko Boucher, Keacy Carty Roland Cato, Joshua da Silva, Dominic Drakes, Amir Jangoo, Nicholas Kirton, Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Kimani Melius, Ashmead Nedd, Jeavor Royal, Jayden Seales, Keagan Simmons, Kevin Sinclair, Shamar Springer, Bhaskar Yadram and Nyeem Young. 

There are, however, a few players who remain outside this group.  Leslie pointed to the example of Roshon Primus who represented Trinbago Knight Riders in the two previous seasons.  Leslie believes the idea of another country-based T20 tournament could be considered.

“The CPL has a franchise model, which in my view, has not been able to expose the best T20 cricketer that ply their trade in the Caribbean,” Leslie told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“I’ll give an example of Barbados.  Barbados started a T20 domestic tournament back in 2009.  Every year there are some players that contribute very well.  Roshon Primus, for example, does extremely well, but the opportunity for Roshon Primus to be selected, I’m not sure there is that level of transparency,” he added.

“Simply put, you can have young U-19 West Indies players given an opportunity to make the franchises because they were on a global stage. You can have the West Indies emerging players from the Super50, did very well, given an opportunity to play T20 cricket.  But what happens to local Barbadian T20 players, Trinidadians, and those across the region who ply their trade and play consistently well in their domestic tournament.  I believe there is very little for those persons.”

The Saint Lucia Kings won the toss and chose to bat. Mark Deyal got the side off to a flying start and they maintained a high intensity throughout the innings, as Tim David and David Wiese combined to cause carnage in the latter overs, taking the side to a mammoth 205 for 4 after their 20 overs.  

Trinbago Knight Riders got off to a fast start in response but slowly unravelled amidst a growing run rate, as David Wiese took his second five-wicket haul of this year’s Hero CPL to end their title defence as they finished on 184 all out. 

Saint Lucia Kings had got off to a troublesome start as Rahkeem Cornwall was caught out in the first over. Yet Deyal would come in and play with an attacking intent that saw him launch eleven boundaries and reach his highest ever T20 score, 78 off just 44 balls. Roston Chase would aid the side with a valuable knock before David and Wiese came in and formed a destructive partnership: 75 runs coming off the last 34 balls. Despite the high score, Sunil Narine was excellent with the ball for the Trinbago Knight Riders, conceding a paltry twelve runs from his four overs. 

Trinbago Knight Riders responded with a strong start, scoring 66 runs in the Powerplay for just the loss of one wicket, as Narine and Colin Munro kept the required run rate within reach. However, Wiese starred with the ball as he took both their wickets, adding pressure to the chase. Despite quick-fire cameos from Darren Bravo and captain Kieron Pollard, it was not enough as the champions faltered under disciplined bowling from Alzarri Joseph and Wahab Riaz. Wiese then capped off a superb game by taking late wickets to reach his five-wicket haul. 

Saint Lucia Kings reached their second successive Hero CPL final with the win and the result means we will have a new champion this year.

The 36-year-old Sammy, who captained the Caribbean T20 team to two World Cup titles, last appeared for the West Indies against a Pakistan XI in 2017.  Sammy’s tenure with the team seemed to have come to an end in acrimonious circumstances after he was removed as captain and dropped after publicly criticising the West Indies administration after they won the tournament in 2016.

Pollard, however, noted that as it stands all players are eligible for selection and Sammy is no exception.

“We have made clear to the (new Cricket West Indies) administration that everyone is available for selection in that pool. No one is an exception to the rule. Performances and fitness and everything we are looking for,” Pollard told members of the media.

The 33-year-old Pollard replaced Jason Holder as the ODI captain and Carlos Brathwaite in T20Is last September.  Sammy will look to make his mark in the upcoming Caribbean Premier League where he will represent the St Lucia Zouks.

 On one of those journeys the conversation turned to CPL cricket. Forde told Collins that he did not currently have a team. Collins is part of the Saint Lucia Kings set up and he called Daren Sammy, the Kings head coach, while Forde was in the car. Forde was encouraged to send videos of him in action to Sammy and by the time he was dropped off Sammy had called back to say, “I want this youngster.”

 That conversation led to Forde making his CPL debut during the 2022 season, and while he didn’t bowl in his first match, he was entrusted with the new ball for his home debut against Guyana Amazon Warriors. Forde says his response to being asked if he wanted this responsibility so early in his career was to tell Sammy, “You asking a dog if he want a bone”.

 Forde was determined to make the most of that opportunity. While sat on a drinks cooler waiting for his home debut he made it clear to his team mate, Rivaldo Clarke, that he was not going to miss his chance. He said: “Rivaldo boy, I don't know about you, but I know when I get my chance and I come off of this cooler, I'm not coming back on this cooler.”

 Forde has not had to sit on the side lines since, with the latest milestone being his call up for the West Indies ODI team who are taking on England in December. His coach for that series will be Daren Sammy, and Forde has said that his relationship with the Kings and West Indies head coach has been foundational to his career.

 “I think he has been, if not the backbone, he has been the main guy for me in terms of giving me that opportunity and trusting me, believing in me. I started opening with the new ball for the Kings and he trusted me. I just kept performing until he built that trust in me,” Forde said.

 For Forde, the CPL has been the building block for his career progression since making that breakthrough in 2022. “I think CPL was the foundation. CPL really started it all because without CPL then the rest of the world wouldn't see me. CPL was my first major tournament. So, for me that's like CPL was the foundation. And I will always say the Kings will always be at my heart.”

 Going forward, Forde wants to develop all elements of his game. He has two half centuries in topflight cricket, one as an overseas player at the Lanka Premier League and another in the recently concluded Super 50 tournament where he presented the West Indies academy side. He says developing his batting and becoming a true all-rounder is where he wants his game end up.

 “My goal is to be to be the number one all-rounder in the world and to put West Indies cricket back to where it needs to be at the top. So, for me and a couple of the younger guys like me, we work really hard in in terms of fitness, the mental side of the game, theory, whatever it be. We are always working because we know what we want to achieve, and we know the goals that we have set and planned out as a collective group.”

The decade-long wait finally ended following a nail-biting three-wicket victory over the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.

Set 218 for victory, half centuries from Chadwick Walton and Andrew McCarthy laid the foundation for victory with a second-wicket partnership of 126 after inform batsman and opener Brandon King was dismissed by Shannon Gabriel for just 12.

Powell scored 25 before he lost his wicket late but those runs were enough for him to be the leading run scorer of the tournament with 346 runs at an average of 69.20. It was the achievement of a goal that he set himself prior to the start of the competition in October.

“Just spending time at the crease. Over the past year or so I have spent a lot of time, especially batting spin so it is good to see it bearing fruit now,” said Powell, who scored a match-winning unbeaten 105 in the semi-final against Guyana Harpy Eagles on Thursday.

“I came in wanting to top the competition, wanting to spend a lot of time at the crease and I think I did that.”

The 2022 CG Insurance Super50 title is the second trophy Jamaica has won under Powell’s leadership. Earlier this year, he led the Jamaica Tallawahs to their third CPL title. The Jamaican T20 franchise won the inaugural title in 2012 and then again in 2016.

However, their fans had to endure watching the Barbados Royals and Trinbago Knight Riders celebrate triumphs over the next six years before they were finally able to celebrate once more. Powell said that he hopes that this is the start of a brighter future for both franchises.

“During the journey, they have become a little frustrated. They cussed us on social media but I guess that is part of the sport,” Powell said.

“It’s just good that we have finally delivered the CPL title and the CG Insurance Super 50 after a decade. It is a very good feeling. I hope they enjoyed it and hope that it is the start of something successful.”

Munro’s blistering 65 from 54 balls provided the anchor in a 19-runs win for the dominant Knight Riders, who put 184 on the board before restricting the Tallawahs to 165.  The win was the team’s seventh in a row. 

The shot-making top-order batsman had gotten off to a solid start to the campaign, previously hitting 49 against the Tallawahs and 50 against the Tridents.  The player, however, hit a rough patch after failing to score against both the Tridents and Warriors in the last two games.

“It was a big relief.  I hadn’t gone duck, duck in the CPL before and even though I’m experienced you start doubting yourself a little bit,” Munro said after the game.

“I had some really good chats with some senior players and the coach and I don’t have to prove anything to anybody here.  The boys back me, they believe in me 100 percent.  I had a little bit of luck and got tired towards the end, which didn’t help.”

Seales bowled three overs and took two wickets for 21 runs to help restrict the Tallawahs to 135-8.

More impressive for the 18-year-old, was the fact that he was entrusted with opening the bowling along with Ali Khan against a powerful Tallawahs top order.

“Today, opening the bowling was not on the cards but after we saw the first couple of balls swing I thought might as well go pace out and see what we get,” said Pollard in an interview with Ian Bishop after the game.

But according to Pollard, the young talent has to be protected and he won’t be putting him in that kind of pressure situation regularly.

“We want to try to protect him as much as possible. He is young so we try not to throw him into the fire. Give him easy roles,” said Pollard.

Despite the need to protect Seales, Pollard did point out that the pacer seems to handle pressure well.

Seales first wicket was that of another youngster in Nicholas Kirton, trapping the number three batsman leg before wicket with a beautiful curling delivery.

The pacer was also given the 16th over with opener Glenn Phillips (58) trying to push the pace of a flagging innings and had him caught, trying to lift a fullish delivery over backward-square-leg, only to be snapped up by Dwayne Bravo on the boundary.

“[…] in the heat of the moment we’ve had to throw him into the fire and the couple of times he has come on, he has shown that he has that mental capacity you know, to take that sort of pressure,” said Pollard.

But Seales night with the ball ended after his third over, even though he had been bowling well, Pollard again deciding to ease him into the thick of things.

“It is not one where we gonna consistently give him the bowling in those pressure situations. I could have easily brought him back in that last over as well but, again, you leave him with that confidence and that high,” he said.

He likens the teams to two biblical characters.

“I see them as Goliath,” said Sammy while addressing the media during a pre-final press conference on Wednesday.

“They are the Goliath of the tournament, but like I said to my men, don’t forget that David defeated Goliath.

“That’s the confidence we have as a team. Everybody knows that from the time the tournament started we said whoever wins this tournament has to go through TKR. That was a given. If you want to win this tournament you have got to beat TKR, and that is what is left to do to win this cup.”

Sammy, who led the West Indies to two ICCT20 World Cups, said the team is confident and united in its vision regarding what is to unfold at the Brian Lara Stadium on Thursday morning.

“They (TKR) have played some exciting, dominant brand of cricket but we have that silent confidence in our team that we play as a unit,” he said.

“They play well as a unit by dominance but we play as a unit by pulling together and believing in ourselves. I think is a very good matchup for tomorrow, and hopefully in this COVID time, we will bring out the entertainment that will ease the stress of the Caribbean people.”

The Zouks got to the final in a dominant win over five-time finalists Guyana Amazon Warriors. The Zouks bowled the Warriors out for just 55, the second-lowest score in CPL history and then achieved their target without losing a wicket.

Sammy led the team to six wins and four losses during the preliminary round.

The rain-affected fixture the Tridents posted 131 for 7 in their turn at the crease, before the showers caused a delay in the game.  On the resumption, the Zouks posted 50 for 3 to win the match.  Unusually, however, in attacking the Tridents early on, Sammy used eight bowlers.

Mohammad Nabi was the star with the ball, his varying pace, and reading the batsmen's intentions, gave neither right- nor left-hander any room, and he got his arm ball to deviate like a leg-cutter.  Sammy bowled Nabi out early the rest of his off-spinners ripped through the Tridents’ middle order.

 With the death overs approaching he went to his third off-spinner, Roston Chase, who picked up Jonathan Carter and Kyle Mayers in consecutive balls.  Deyal, yet another off-spinner, became the eighth bowler used and the fifth to take a wicket as Andre Fletcher took a good catch off Raymond Reifer’s outside edge.

“Today, the mix-up with the bowlers, everyone I called on, the spinners, in the middle, they responded so that’s a good sign for us going forward,” Sammy said following the game.

“I think we have a good all-round team, today I probably used eight or seven bowlers.  So, everybody is equipped for different situations.  If a team has a few left-handed we have a couple of spinners to turn the ball away from them and when the team has right-handers we have the left-armers and chinaman bowlers.  So, I’m really happy with the guys that we have.”

 An inspired St Lucia Zouks skittled perennial finalists Guyana Amazon Warriors for the second-lowest team total in Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) history and blazed to victory in just 27 balls to complete one of the most dominant performances in T20 history. In doing so they booked their place against the Trinbago Knight Riders in Thursday’s final, the first in the St Lucia franchise’s history.

Zouks captain Daren Sammy put the Amazon Warriors in, but even he could not have seen this coming. Brandon King toe-ended to keeper Andre Fletcher and Shimron Hetmyer inexplicably left his first ball to let it crash into off-stump. Nicholas Pooran denied Scott Kuggeleijn a hat-trick, but only a single and a wide followed, and Mohammad Nabi followed up with a maiden to leave the Amazon Warriors 2 for 2 after two overs.
Pooran immediately counter-attacked, slashing Kuggeleijn over the slips then dismissively driving him down the ground for back-to-back fours, but he fell trying to loft Nabi down the ground thanks to a wonderful catch by Mark Deyal diving forward from long-off. Chandrapaul Hemraj and Ross Taylor cautiously played out the rest of the Powerplay, at which point the Amazon Warriors were 21 for 3.
Taylor, so often the rock around which recoveries are built, fell LBW essaying his favoured sweep off Roston Chase, who anticipated the stroke well and bowled accordingly. Deyal almost pulled off another amazing catch at long-off as Hemraj drove Zahir Khan aerially, but it just fell short, and a fifth straight over with only three runs off it passed, leaving the Amazon Warriors 27for 4 off eight overs.

The extent to which the tension was pressing on the Amazon Warriors was obvious. Hemraj got a friendly full toss from Chase but only pushed it for two, nearly holed out next ball, and then Keemo Paul did hole out with a swipe down the throat of Kesrick Williams at deep square leg. Hemraj finally hit the innings’ first Hero Maximum off its 56th ball, slamming Zahir over deep midwicket, but at halfway the Amazon Warriors had crawled to 42 for 5.

Chase’s first over after the chase was quiet, but the next was anything but. Amazon Warriors captain Chris Green smashed Javelle Glenn’s first ball for a Hero Maximum and seemed to have done so off his second ball but Nabi pulled off a brilliant balancing catch at the boundary’s edge.

With spin so dominant, Sammy went to Deyal who answered the call emphatically with two wickets in two balls - Hemraj inside-edged onto his stumps via his pad, and Romario Shepherd first ball pushed a simple catch back to the bowler. Again there was no hat-trick, but the Amazon Warriors innings was not long for this world.

Fletcher showed sharp glovework to stump Kevin Sinclair off Zahir, and even sharper moves in celebration and the Amazon Warriors’ ignominious innings ended next ball as Rakheem Cornwall plunged forward to take a sharp slip catch off Imran Tahir. All six Zouks bowlers had taken a wicket, and the innings had lasted just 13.4 overs.

Cornwall showed that a low target wasn’t going to temper his belligerent instincts, launching two Hero Maximums in Green’s first over, whipping Tahir for four through short fine leg and nearly breaking the stumps at the non-striker’s end with a straight drive. Deyal hit fours off each of his first two deliveries, and the Zouks were almost halfway to their target after two overs.

Naveen-ul-Haq was visibly furious with how the evening had gone for his team, bowling a bouncer that sailed even over the towering Cornwall for five wides. Cornwall continued his merry mayhem by walloping Naveen through long-on for four, and Deyal picked up a Hero Maximum for himself with a gleeful mow over midwicket. Cornwall blasted Tahir over long-on for his third Hero Maximum, Deyal closed the fourth over with his third four, and captain Green went down with his ship by bringing himself on for the fifth with just three runs to win.

St Lucia Zouks 56/0 (Cornwall 32*, Deyal 19*) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 55 all out (Hemraj 25; Deyal 2/2, Zahir 2/12, Kuggeleijn 2/12, Chase 2/15, Nabi 1/6, Glenn 1/8) by 10 wickets

The Zouks, first-time finalists posted a competitive score of 154 off 19.1 overs, thanks to Andre Fletcher’s top score of 39 and scores of 29 from Mark Deyal, 24 from Roston Chase, and 24 from Najibullah Zadran.

However, the total was not nearly enough as TKR smashed their way to victory with 11 balls to spare.

Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo posted an unbroken third-wicket partnership of 138 to lead their side to their fourth CPL title.

Sammy, in his post-match comments, lamented that the Zouks did not get more runs after being in a strong position of 77 for 2 in the ninth over of their innings.

“We thought we were about 15-20 runs short from the start we had. Plus, we didn't complete our batting innings and when you play against a side like TKR you have to make sure you at least make full use of your overs. But we still felt we had enough when we put them under pressure in the first six overs,” he said.

“But these guys, Bravo and Simmons, have played so much together; they absorbed the pressure and put it back on us.”

Despite the outcome, Sammy said the Zouks fought bravely and put in a solid shift against the now four-time champions.

“I think we really pushed TKR in all three games we played against them in the tournament and I'm really proud of that,” he said.

“The message from the last few days is we never quit. The whole nation was behind us. We're very disappointed but we have shown that if we play a brand of cricket, we'll get results. I think we've put our hands up this tournament.”

The former West Indies captain said, however, that there were other positives to take from the final.

“Of course when you lose a final you think about things you could have done differently. Maybe I should have been more sure about the decision I wanted to take towards the end. But we've been resilient, we showed commitment and we played a brand of cricket that shows you don't need superstars. For eight years we have been trying to get to the final and we got here,” he said.

“Congratulations to Kieron Pollard and his team and I really want to thank CPL to have cricket in this time. We created an opportunity in the Caribbean for people to smile. And thanks to my team for the way they have turned up.”