Glen Phillips

 Fidel Edwards’s first over was fiery, and while Rakheem Cornwall drove for four he should have fallen trying to pull, but a stiff-looking Andre Russell parried the catch for another four. Mark Deyal started with a straight four off Veerasammy Permaul, but Edwards’s second over went for just four, and while Deyal pulled Mujeeb Ur Rahman for four the Afghan dismissed him with a googly.

 Permaul’s second went for just one, and while Cornwall dispatched Mujeeb over long-off for the game’s first Hero Maximum, the rest of the over went for only three, and at the end of the Powerplay, the Zouks were 35/1 with both Cornwall and Andre Fletcher under a run a ball.

Fletcher tried to attack Carlos Brathwaite but was superbly caught by Jermaine Blackwood. Cornwall hooked a second Hero Maximum and launched Sandeep Lamichhane for a third, but the Nepalese bowled him next ball with a googly. Brathwaite went for just five, and Permaul dismissed Mohammad Nabi who swept straight to his countryman Mujeeb. At halfway, the Zouks were 66/4.

Lamichhane bemused Najibullah Zadran to go for just one. Roston Chase thus had to attack Permaul’s final over and hit a straight Hero Maximum followed by a paddle-swept four. Lamichhane bowled a maiden, beating Chase on both edges, and Mujeeb’s third over went boundary-less to leave the Zouks 88/4 after 14.

 Lamichhane had bowled 11 dot balls in a row, but Najibullah broke the shackles with his reverse sweeps - if the first, a four, was fortunate, the second, a Hero Maximum, was majestic. Najibullah then dispatched Brathwaite over long-on then midwicket for consecutive Hero Maximums, bringing up a 50 partnership.

 Edwards targeted Najibullah with the short ball, going for just four, and while sub fielder Nkrumah Bonner reprieved Najibullah by dropping a simple chance off Mujeeb, the Tallawahs spinner got his countryman soon after as Najibullah sliced to Brathwaite at point. The Zouks reached 125/5 off 18.

 Javelle Glenn fell to a searing Edwards yorker, but Daren Sammy was able to use the pace to slice for four. Chase had become subdued and ended not out at under a run a ball.

Neither Blackwood nor Glenn Phillips started fluently - extras took up most of the first over, Nabi went for just two, and the first boundary of the innings was an under-edge. The Tallawahs were a scratchy 17/0 after three overs.

Blackwood flicked Nabi through square leg for four, and Phillips steered the Afghan for a four of his own. Kesrick Williams’ first over went for only three, but Deyal started with a full toss, swatted by Phillips for four, and followed it with five wides. Thus the Tallawahs reached 46/0 off the Powerplay.

Phillips picked the gap at midwicket to pull Zahir Khan’s first ball for four, but Blackwood was eating up deliveries, and while the Tallawahs reached 55/0 after eight overs, he was going at under four an over.

A misfield at third man gifted Phillips a four to end a good over from Williams. Blackwood continued to lack timing, but he and Phillips at least did not allow a dot ball off Zahir’s 10th. At drinks, the Tallawahs were 72/0.

Phillips thumped Zahir for the innings’ first Hero Maximum, but the Afghan ripped one through the gate to bowl the Kiwi. Sammy went to his other wrist-spinner Glenn, and the move proved fruitful as Blackwood under-edged to Fletcher. The Tallawahs suddenly found themselves needing 60 at over eight an over.

Tallawahs captain Rovman Powell fell the third ball to Zahir thanks to a brilliant slip catch by Sammy, and panic set in when Russell fell first ball, also caught by the captain at slip. Nicholas Kirton survived the hat-trick ball, but Zahir had changed the complexion of the game, and after 14 overs the Tallawahs were 93/4 and needed close to nine an over without Russell.

Walton’s difficult season continued as a good throw from Najibullah ran him out, and the Tallawahs now needing 43 off the last four overs. While Glenn dropped Brathwaite off his own bowling, he trapped him LBW next ball and then bowled Permaul to give himself a second chance at a hat-trick. Mujeeb survived, but the Tallawahs had dug themselves into a huge hole and now needed 13 an over.

Kirton launched Nabi over long-on for six then drove for four, but the Tallawahs still needed 24 off the last two overs. While Kirton smashed a full toss for a Hero Maximum, Williams calmed any nerves with a slower ball that bowled Kirton and closed his spell with a second wicket as Lamichhane picked out Nabi at long-on.

Chase had 17 to defend off the last over to Mujeeb and Edwards, who were never likely to get close. The Tallawahs go into a semi-final against the Trinbago Knight Riders on a losing streak and with questions to answer, but even with the Guyana Amazon Warriors’ pedigree, the well-led Zouks are not to be taken lightly.

Summary (St Lucia Zouks 145/6 (Najibullah 35, Chase 32*, Cornwall 32; Mujeeb 2/28, Lamichhane 1/20, Edwards 1/24, Permaul 1/27) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 134/9 (Phillips 49, Kirton 25, Blackwood 25; Glenn 3/16, Zahir 3/25, Williams 2/27) by 11 runs).

Upcoming Fixtures:

Tuesday 8 September - Semi-Final 1: Trinbago Knight Riders v Jamaica Tallawahs (10 am), 9:00 am Jamaica at Brian Lara Cricket Academy

Tuesday 8 September - Semi-Final 2: Guyana Amazon Warriors v St Lucia Zouks (5:30 pm), 4:30 am Jamaica Brian Lara Cricket Academy

New Zealand took the series 2-1 after winning the first T20 international by 13 runs last Wednesday and humiliating the West Indies by 90 runs on Friday, which meant that Sunday’s match was a dead rubber with only pride at stake for the home side.

Set a target of 147, the West Indies cruised to 150-2 from 19 overs.

The victory was set up by an opening stand of 102 between Brooks, who was unbeaten on 56 and King who entertained the small crowd gathered with 53 from 35 balls, his first T20 international half-century on home soil and his fifth overall.

It was the first opening stand of 100 or more by the West Indies since January 2020 against Ireland.

King eventually got out in the 14^th over attempting to pull Tim Southee over the square-leg boundary but was caught by Martin Guptill running in from deep.

Devon Thomas wasted an opportunity to get some runs under his belt when he was caught at deep midwicket by Glen Phillips for five to leave the West Indies 113-2 mid-way the 15^th over.

Stand-in captain Rovman Powell ensured that there would be no jitters. He scored 27 not out including the match-winning six over the midwicket boundary from James Neesham’s final delivery.

Powell and Brooks shared a 37-run partnership that took the home side to victory.

For the first time in the series, the bowlers and batsmen were on song.

Odean Smith took T20I career-best figures of 3-29, Dominic Drakes bowled tidily to finish with 1-19 and Akeal Hosein 2-28 to restrict New Zealand to 145-7, their lowest total of the series.

Phillips followed up his 76 from the second T20 international with a 26-ball 41 but New Zealand lost wickets at regular intervals and were unable to put together any meaningful partnerships.

In fact, it was a 47-run fourth-wicket partnership between Kane Williamson (24) and Phillips that helped the tourists set a respectable total after struggling to 57-3 in the ninth over.

Devon Conway’s 21 was the only other score of note as the West Indies bowlers maintained a stranglehold throughout the 20 overs.

 The Royals won the toss and captain Jason Holder chose to field, as he did in their game on Saturday. Rahkeem Cornwall returned to the Kings lineup and made an instant impact, firing 40 runs off 26 balls before Roston Chase continued his fine form to score 56 and take his side to a mammoth total of 190-6.

Despite encountering problems with the loss of two wickets in the sixth over, Kyle Mayers and Glenn Phillips combined for a remarkable 154-run partnership to take their side to a comfortable eight-wicket victory with seven balls to spare.

 Saint Lucia Kings were missing captain Faf du Plessis, who was out with an injury, but stand-in captain Andre Fletcher and a returning Cornwall got their side to an outstanding start: taking the score to 54-0 by the end of the Powerplay. Once Cornwall had been dismissed and Fletcher run-out after an outstanding bit of fielding from Mayers, it was up to Chase to lead with the bat. Chase’s rich vein of form in this year’s Hero CPL continued with a swift half-century that catapulted his side to an imposing total of 190-6.

The Royals encountered trouble in the sixth over, as Roston Chase bowled a double-wicket maiden over, firstly getting Johnson Charles caught out, then Shai Hope falling the very next ball to a run-out. However, Mayers and Phillips came to the crease and formed a memorable partnership to give Barbados Royals an unlikely win, scoring twenty-two boundaries between them. It was the highest successful run chase of this year’s Hero CPL. Other than Chase, none of the Saint Lucia Kings bowlers was able to take a wicket.

 With this victory, Barbados Royals ensured that Saint Lucia Kings would have to rely on other results to qualify for the Hero CPL semi-finals on Tuesday.

Scores: Barbados Royals 191-2 (Mayers 81*, Phillips 80*; Chase 1-35, Royal 0-3) beat Saint Lucia Kings 190-6 (Chase 56, Cornwall 40; Mayers 3-39, Thomas 2-32) by eight wickets.

In reply to West Indies ‘A’s 322, Phillips and Seifert mounted an opening stand of 226 when the former was out caught and bowled by Hayden Walsh Jr for 136 that came from 184 balls and included 15 fours and five sixes.

Seifert and Mark Chapman then put on 80 runs together before Seifert was trapped lbw by Raymon Reifer for 111.

Chapman was the final wicket to fall on the day, caught by Romario Shepherd from the bowling of Nicholas Pooran, who had figured of 1 for 3 from the only over he bowled.

Walsh returned figures of 1 for 47 while Reifer took 1 for 34.

The home side took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series following their win in the final over on Friday night at Eden Park in Auckland. The third and final match will be at Bay Oval on Monday night (2am East Caribbean/1am Jamaica).

Phillips was an automatic choice fo the Man-of-the-Match award as the struck a superb maiden century to pilot New Zealand to a massive total. His career-best knock came off just 51 balls with 10 boundaries and eight sixes before he was caught by substitute Hayden Walsh Jr off skipper Kieron Pollard in the final over.

Left-hander Devon Conway also batted well to end on 65 not out off 37 balls with four fours and four sixes. He helped Phillips add 185 for the third wicket which took the game away from the West Indies.

Asked to score at just under 12 runs per over to win, West Indies never got their momentum going and lost wickets at regular intervals — five batsman scored 20 or more but none reached 30.

Kieron Pollard blasted three huge sixes in an over from Mitch Santner, but the left-arm spinner got his revenge as Pollard fell in that same over — caught on the straight boundary behind the bowler. The skipper top-scored for the second match in a row while Keemo Paul also launched three sixes in a cameo knock at the end.

(Match scores: New Zealand 238-3 off 20 overs (Glenn Phillips 108, Devon Conway 65 not out, Martin Guptill 34). West Indies 166-9 off 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 28, Keemo Paul 26 not out, Shimron Hetmyer 25, Andre Fletcher 20, Kyle Mayers 20; Kyle Jamieson 2-15, Mitchell Santner 2-41)