Kesrick Williams

The competition has so far been plagued by a number of low scoring total’s, and batsmen seemingly unable to come to grips what has so far proven to be a surface that favours bowlers.  There has so far been very little issue for Williams and the Zouks, though, as they have racked up five wins and currently occupying the third spot.

“I don’t have a problem with the pitches, to be honest.  These wickets, I love these wickets, for me, they show how skillful you are as a bowler.  If you are just running in and bowling fast and trying to hit the deck, then you are going to go for runs,” Williams told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“If you look at the guys that are getting wickets, they have skill.  T20 is a batter’s game, everyone wants to see balls hit wickets.  At the end of the day, these wickets are not suitable for T20 cricket but we are professionals and we have to learn to adjust.  If we can’t adjust as professionals it makes no sense to play cricket because you will have times like this,” he added.

Williams and the Zouks have certainly adjusted.  The team’s five wins and three losses have put them in a place-off spot for the first time in the franchise’s history.

After a three-month hiatus, cricket returned to the international stage earlier this month with the England versus the West Indies series, in England.  As the world continues its battle to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the series took place under extraordinary circumstances.

The Test series was played without fans and the players, along with everyone involved in it, were kept separate from the public, in a biosphere of sorts.  With considerably fewer resources than the England Cricket Board (ECB), the CPL has come up with its own version of a bubble in order to stage the tournament, but there are marked differences.

“The one in England was much different.  You could move around freely.  You could socialise a bit more with your teammates in England, but the one in Trinidad you cannot do that,”  St Lucia Zouks off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“When you first come to Trinidad you in the room for 7 days, isolated, and can’t come out.  Whereas as in England once you do the test and you are negative you are free to move about the facilities, you just can’t leave,” he added.

His St Lucia Zouks teammate, pace bowler Kesrick Williams, also shed more light on the specific conditions.

“It’s not the norm but at the end of the day it’s something we work with given the conditions in the world right now, with COVID-19…it’s not the best but we are working with it,” he added.

“When somebody is always telling you, you can’t do something, it's different than when you can freely do it.  For me, I’m usually in my room, but at the end of the day when someone is telling you, you have to wear a mask there, you have to wear a mask here, times for the food, times for gym and stuff like that and then the sanitizing and all that, it just leaves you feeling like you are in prison.  I don’t have a problem with it, but it's something we are not accustomed to.”

The Zouks batted first and Cottrell controlled himself with the new ball. After a chaotic first over the St Lucian team were on 16/2 after two dropped catches, a run-out and a catch taken in the deep.

The madcap start continued within the second over with wickets falling from the first, third and fifth balls from Alzarri Joseph to leave the Zouks 21/5.

Yet another dropped chance prevented in from being 21/6 when Daren Sammy chipped one to mid-wicket off the bowling of Sohail Tanvir. That drop seemed to be the wake-up call that the Zouks needed with Sammy finally finding the boundary with some regularity.

It was Sammy who took the Zouks to a total that they had a chance of defending with 42 (11) before he holed out looking for yet another six.

Rayad Emrit put an end to Sammy’s innings and nearly had a hattrick in the final over, a tricky chance at square leg put down by Chris Lynn to deny him.

 The Zouks closed out their innings at 77/8 and the Patriots set off in pursuit with a bang. Evin Lewis ploughed into the bowling of Chemar Holder, taking 28 off the first over before being caught on the boundary going for another six.

At the other end, Chris Lynn was as explosive as his opening partner, taking 16 from five balls before he was dismissed by Obed McCoy. Lynn was soon followed by Denesh Ramdin who went for a golden duck but with the score at 45/3 and with just 33 more runs needed it looked like the Patriots were still favourites.

A stunning caught and bowled from Williams brought the Zouks back into the game with the Patriots now 55/5 with two overs to go. When that became 62/7 the Patriots were in real trouble with 15 needed off the last over.

Scott Kuggeleijn was given the responsibility of bowling the last and he didn’t let the Zouks down, conceding just 2 runs as his team won a fascinating match by 12 runs.

After the West Indies made 180 for 7 from their reduced allotment of 16 overs due to rain, New Zealand replied with 179 for 5 off 15.2 overs to win by Duckworth/Lewis method.

Keemo Paul bowled five no-balls while conceding 39 runs from three overs while Kesrick Williams served up a steady diet of half-volleys going for 33 runs in two overs. Meanwhile Fabian Allen yielded 32 runs from two overs as New Zealand raced to a comfortable victory.

Notwithstanding the West Indies batsmen losing five wickets for one run after scoring 58 from the first 19 balls of their innings, Pollard’s comments suggested that had the bowlers done a better job, the outcome might have been different.

“It was an entertaining game of cricket for the fans and the general public, something that they haven’t got for a very long time. In terms of disciplines, in the bowling aspect of things, I thought we were a bit erratic, a bit indisciplined and in international cricket if you bowl so many no balls and if you are so inconsistent in your execution, you’re definitely going to end up on the losing side,” Pollard said.

Despite losing three wickets in the first six overs, New Zealand were going at close to 10 runs an over before Ross Taylor got run out without scoring to leave the home side at 63 for 4. Pollard said the West Indies failed to capitalize.

“Having them go at the start at 10s and 11s, you want to get a couple of wickets and put them on the backfoot, exactly what we did. I just thought we were not disciplined enough to stay in the game a bit longer and carry down to the end because sometimes you’re going at 12s, 13s, comfortably but when it’s crunch time, sometimes the pressure wants to get the better of you, coming down to the end I thought a couple less boundaries and we would be right in the game.”

Pollard said he will not be put off for the loss and vowed to bounce back for game two on Saturday.

“I am here for the fight. I am not going to back down.”

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots won the toss and chose to field first, but it was Faf du Plessis who got the Saint Lucia Kings off to a dominating start by scoring boundaries throughout the opening overs. Johnson Charles then continued to score runs, before big hitting from David Wiese and Roshon Primus powered the Kings to a total of 189-7. 

In their chase, the Patriots could not find fluency as they lost four wickets in the first 10 overs. Wiese was the stand-out bowler for the Kings, taking three wickets for just eight runs as the Patriots finished 140 all out and lost by a margin of 49 runs. 

Saint Lucia Kings had a positive start to their innings with du Plessis and Charles comfortably hitting boundaries at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, although the former would lose his wicket attempting a scoop shot. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, the Kings managed to score 189-7 largely thanks to the performance of Charles, who scored 61 and was at the crease for over 15 overs. 

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots had begun to build a foundation in their chase but lost both openers Andre Fletcher and Evin Lewis in the fifth over. With Wiese then taking the wickets of both Darren and DJ Bravo, the Patriots began to rebound with Dewald Brevis scoring some crucial runs before he was caught out. As the Patriots lost more wickets, Kesrick Williams proving a threat with the ball, they could not keep up with the required run rate and were bowled out for 140, losing by 49 runs. 

 Scores:  Saint Lucia Kings 189-7 (Charles 61, du Plessis 41; DJ Bravo 1-26, Khan 2-45) beat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 140 all out (Brevis 32, Khan 26; Wiese 3-8, Williams 3-32) by 49 runs.

Joshua Bishop came in for his second senior T20 game, replacing the injured Mitchell Santner, and just as he had in his first match, last year against the same opposition, he dismissed Rakheem Cornwall in the first over. Andre Fletcher’s innings was dramatic but brief - he smashed Holder for six first ball, but the Tridents captain trapped him LBW second - and after eight balls the Zouks were 12/2.

Bishop bowled an impressive second over, beating both Leniko Boucher and Roston Chase and having Chase dropped at point. Holder showed faith in Walsh after his mauling at the hands of Kieron Pollard yesterday, and Walsh should have dismissed Boucher but Shai Hope missed a simple stumping. Rashid Khan was as accurate as ever, and the Zouks reached the Powerplay at 35/2.

Boucher was frenetic before Walsh bowled him with a quicker ball. Chase was able to free his arms and sweep Ashley Nurse for four, but Walsh was visibly growing in confidence and beat Chase in the flight with a slower googly to bowl him. Nurse continued, Rashid again held back for the second part of the innings, and the Afghan pair went boundary-less. The Zouks reached halfway at 58/4.

Nabi for once failed, skying a flighted Walsh googly to the captain at long-off, and with him gone Rashid returned and troubled both Najibullah Zadran and captain Daren Sammy. Bishop’s return over was also accurate, and a frantic Sammy ran himself out to leave his team 65/6 in the 13th. Javelle Glen though started in style with a gigantic Hero Maximum that landed on the roof.

Najibullah late-cut Rashid with just enough pace to find the boundary, but the rest of the over went scoreless. Nurse got a third over with two left-handers at the crease and picked up Glen, albeit it was a full toss whipped straight to Walsh at deep midwicket.

Holder went to his seamers Nyeem Young and Raymon Reifer, and a restless Najibullah fell to the latter thanks to a good low catch by Joshua Bishop at deep square leg. Reifer got a second thanks to Walsh expertly judging a mistimed Scott Kuggeleijn pull to juggle and hold near the rope.

Rashid was, predictably, too good for the tail and finished his spell with the wicket of his countryman Zahir Khan. Young with a tight over of 0/3 was the only one of the Tridents bowlers not to take a wicket, and they hadn’t even needed all 20 overs.

Hope and Johnson Charles started cautiously. The first aerial shot didn’t come until the 4th over, Charles almost holing out to mid-on, but a smattering of fours saw the Tridents score at a run a ball. Hope fell LBW to a good ball from Williams, but the Tridents reached the Powerplay at a steady 34/1.

That became 37/2 when Zahir bowled Kyle Mayers with a beauty that turned from middle to take off-stump, the no.3 again struggling against wrist-spin. Williams and Zahir snuck through a few tight overs, and even Charles’ third boundary was a controlled leg glance. Williams wasn’t giving up, beating Holder’s waft to pick up a second LBW, but at the drinks break the Tridents were 48/3 and needed barely over four an over.

The Tridents though continued to bat nervously - Chase and Glen, the latter bowling for the first time in senior T20 cricket, were tidy, and the leg-spinner Glen got his first wicket when Charles sliced to long-on where Williams took a good catch.

The Tridents suddenly found themselves 67/4 off 14, and Zahir, Nabi and Chase bowled tidily against a nervy Nurse and Corey Anderson. When Nabi beat Anderson in the flight and bowled him, the Tridents found themselves suddenly five down and needing over a run a ball. Sammy gave Glen the nod for the 19th, and Rashid fell clubbing the leg-spinner to Nabi, leaving Chase nine to defend off the last over.

Nurse fell to a good catch from Najibullah, but most importantly Chase started with three dot balls. Reifer missed a full toss and only managed three off two balls, leaving Young needing to hit his first-ever ball in Hero CPL over the ropes to seal a win that seemed a formality at almost every stage. He couldn’t do it, and while the Zouks bowlers deserve huge credit, for the second day in a row the Tridents found themselves wondering how on earth they had lost.

Summary (St Lucia Zouks 92 all out (Najibullah 22, Boucher 18, Chase 14; Walsh Jr 3/19, Reifer 2/5, Nurse 1/15, Rashid 1/17, Bishop 1/17) beat Barbados Tridents 89/7 (Charles 39, Hope 14, Nurse 12, Anderson 11; Glen 2/11, Williams 2/12, Chase 1/14, Nabi 1/18, Zahir 1/21) beat by 3 runs)

Upcoming Fixture: Sunday 30 August - Match 20: St Kitts & Nevis Patriots v Guyana Amazon Warriors (2:15pm),  1:15 pm Jamaica at Queen’s Park Oval