Skn Patriots

Patriots captain Rayad Emrit bowled first, perhaps unsure of the par score at Queen’s Park Oval. While Sohail Tanvir was wayward, the recalled Alzarri Joseph found some accuracy he’d lacked in previous games.

Shai Hope again started slowly and was still under a run a ball at the end of the Powerplay. Jaggesar could have dismissed him three times, but the off-spinner got a reward with the wicket of Johnson Charles, who missed a sweep and was out LBW.

Hope continued to eat up deliveries before Jaggesar finally got him, Emrit taking the catch at deep midwicket to leave the Tridents 59/2 at halfway. Kyle Mayers seemed unfazed, and first over after the drinks break he took ten off Imran Khan, including a big Hero Maximum.

Mayers and Jason Holder saw off Jaggesar’s excellent spell, and Mayers attacked immediately when Tanvir returned. He got a fierce pull shot away but fell next ball slashing hard at one wide outside off, Ramdin taking a smart catch.

Holder fell in a flukey manner - Tanvir got a hand on a straight drive and the batsman had no chance of getting back. The Tridents sent Ashley Nurse up the order to join Corey Anderson, who was more comfortable now he’d been moved into the middle-order and slog-swept Imran for six to end the over.

The 15th from Emrit was tight, but Joseph returned with five wides and the over went for 12. Nurse and Anderson both walloped Tanvir for Hero Maximums and Nurse hit a four to cap a 21-run last over off Tanvir.

Nurse punished Joseph with a superb straight-six, and while a good diving catch from Lewis put an end to the Bajan’s exploits, that rapid-fire stand of 56 off just 29 balls had the Tridents well set to dip for the line at 136/5 off 18.

 Anderson greeted Emrit’s return with a Hero Maximum over long-on but then chipped a full toss to cover. Imran deserves credit, as his the 20th over went for just six, but even so, the Tridents will have been the happier at the innings break.

After a tight first over from Holder, Chris Lynn swung a Mitchell Santner full toss for six. In the third over Holder was not so accurate - he strayed leg-side and Lewis clipped for four, he bowled length and Lewis lofted for six. Santner found some turn, but two boundaries meant the Patriots were off to a flyer.

Rashid Khan changed that first ball - Lynn had no answer to the googly and fell LBW. Joshua da Silva edged a Test style Holder leg-cutter to the keeper, and a wicket-maiden meant the Patriots reached the Powerplay at 41/2.

Lewis took a liking to Hayden Walsh Jr, hitting four of his first eight balls for six to bring up 50 off just 28 balls. With the Patriots ahead of the rate and just two down Holder had to bring on Rashid, and while the Afghan went for just three the Patriots were well set at halfway at 74/2.

Raymon Reifer’s tight over gave cover for West Indies’ U19 star Nyeem Young to bowl his first senior professional over, and the youngster went for just three. Lewis was lucky Reifer couldn’t hold a tough caught-and-bowled chance, but there was nothing lucky about the Hero Maximum next ball.

The subdued Denesh Ramdin finally hit his first four, and the Patriots seemed to have got going again with a 13 run over. But back came Rashid again with a tight over, and good bowling from Young and brilliant boundary fielding from Santner meant the Patriots needed 46 off the last five overs.

With Ramdin sluggish, Lewis had to break free off Rashid. He did, just - a toe-end went incredibly high and just landed safely, but the Afghan’s last ball ended up on the roof of the Learie Constantine stand as the Patriots stayed in touch.

Mayers for the 17th was a gamble, but he denied Lewis the strike and a simple catch for Walsh Jr finally ended Ramdin’s stuttering innings of 20 off 32. Dunk at least ensured Lewis was on strike come the start of the 18th with 31 still needed.

Lewis heaped the pressure on Young with a six, but the debutant recovered to leave the Patriots needing 10 RPO with two overs to go. The pressure finally told on Lewis as he picked out Rashid with nine balls to go and 20 still to win, but he had done as much as he could.

Support finally came from Dunk, who found the fence with a deft reverse flick, meaning the inexperienced Young had 13 to defend. While the debutant bowled to his field, he missed his length twice and Dunk showed his class in franchise cricket to get the Patriots on the board at the fourth time of asking.

Summary: (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 152/4 (Lewis 89, Dunk 22*, Ramdin 20; Mayers 2/14, Holder 1/18, Rashid 1/24 beat Barbados Tridents 151/7 (Anderson 31, Hope 29, Nurse 25; Jaggesar 2/17, Emrit 1/23, Joseph 1/32, Imran 1/36) beat) by 6 wickets)

Upcoming Fixture: Tuesday 25 August - Match 12: Jamaica Tallawahs v Guyana Amazon Warriors (5:30 pm), 4:30 in Jamaica at Queen’s Park Oval

After Zouks’ captain Daren Sammy put them in, the Patriots had yet to score when Nabi dismissed both Chris Lynn and Nick Kelly. Lynn continued his run of being dismissed by spinners, pushing a simple catch back to the bowler, and Kelly edged to the safe hands of Rakheem Cornwall at slip.

Nabi soon made it four. Denesh Ramdin sought to follow a Hero Maximum over long-on with one over square leg but top-edged to Najibullah Zadran, and next ball Patriots leading scorer of Hero CPL 2020, Evin Lewis, spooned a sweep to Roston Chase at square leg to leave the Patriots 11/4 off just 3 overs and Nabi on a hat-trick.

Chase’s introduction with the ball was not a surprise, and he went for just three off his first over. Jahmar Hamilton just about survived the hat-trick ball, but he and Ben Dunk managed no further boundaries as the Patriots reached the Powerplay at 22/4.

Another tight over came and went, this time from Zahir Khan. Dunk finally broke the drought as Chase overpitched, sending the off-spinner high over the sightscreen. Oddly, after eight overs the Patriots had hit two Hero Maximums but no fours.

That block-block-slog approach brought Hamilton’s downfall, as he prodded at a Zahir googly and edged behind. Cornwall closed out the first half of the innings well, and at drinks, the Patriots were 43/5 with a lot resting on Dunk once more.

Dunk hit Zahir straight for a third Hero Maximum but should have been stumped in the same over. After 13 overs, Dunk had 32 of the Patriots’ 59/5, and the pressure on him finally told as Cornwall’s extra bounce saw the Australian splice a pull to deep midwicket.

 Even a Mark Deyal full toss didn’t result in the match’s first four. After 15 overs the Patriots were 66/6, and it got worse as Nabi returned to complete his five-for - remarkably, the first of his 10-year and 264-game T20 career - as Tanvir scooped a sweep to Zahir at short fine-leg.

Kesrick Williams came on for the 18th, off which captain Rayad Emrit took for 14 including, at long last, a four. Emrit fell next over, Deyal taking a running catch at long-on, but Kuggeleijn dropped short off his last ball and Alzarri Joseph sent him into the stands. Imran Khan sacrificed himself to get Joseph on strike, and the Antiguan responded with a second Hero Maximum. 37 off the last 3 overs, all bowled by seam, only delayed the inevitable.

The Patriots surprisingly started with seamer Tanvir, who Cornwall hammered for two fours and two towering Hero Maximums. Emrit gave Jon-Russ Jaggesar an aggressive field, but Jaggesar’s first ball was poor and Fletcher cut it easily for four. Cornwall smashed Imran clean over the roof, and while he was bowled two balls later, the fact that he alone hit more fours and almost as many boundaries than the entire Patriots team told the story.

After a brief shower, the Zouks resumed needing just 81 at well under 5 an over, which made Deyal’s hoick the first ball all the stranger. Emrit took a good catch to leave Imran on a hat-trick, which the ever-calm Chase denied him comfortably.

With Cornwall having taken the pressure off, the Zouks found strike rotation easy, and that relaxed feel gave Fletcher confidence to smash Jaggesar into the top of the Carib stand to end the Powerplay at 47/2. The opener’s dismissal was a surprise when it came with a pull straight to midwicket, giving Imran a third wicket.

Najibullah reverse-swept two fours and good running meant Imran’s last over went for seven. Emrit brought himself on, but Chase and Najibullah took him four a boundary apiece, and the Zouks cruised to 79/3 at halfway.

A desperate Emrit turned to Dunk’s part-time off-spin - so part-time Dunk bowled in his sunhat - which Najibullah smashed for four as the over went for eight. Najibullah dished out further punishment in Dunk’s next over, lifting him for a Hero Maximum over long-off, but Dunk got a small measure of joy as the Afghan top-edged to deep midwicket.

It was Dunk’s first Hero CPL wicket, just the third of his T20 career, but it was scant consolation as the Zouks sealed the victory with 32 balls to spare without even needing Nabi to bat.

Summary: (St Lucia Zouks 111/4 (Najibullah 33, Chase 27*, Cornwall 26; Imran 3/23, Dunk 1/29) beat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 110/9 (Dunk 33, Joseph 21*, Emrit 16; Nabi 5/15, Cornwall 1/14, Zahir 1/18) by 6 wickets)

 Upcoming Fixture: Thursday 27 August - Match 16: Guyana Amazon Warriors v Trinbago Knight Riders (5:30 pm), 4:30 pm Jamaica time  at the Queen’s Park Oval