St. Lucia Zoukes thrashed Barbados Trident
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - AN unbeaten half century from captain Dinesh Ramdin was too much for the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots as the Guyana Amazon Warriors got their first win in the 2015 Caribbean Premier League at Warner Park yesterday (Jul. 3).
The Patriots opted to bat first for the fourth consecutive time in this year’s tournament and got off to magnificent start from openers Martin Guptill and Evin Lewis who both got into the 30s, as they realised a partnership of 66 to lay a solid foundation for the rest of the innings.
Lewis was the first to depart for 34 after Brad Hodge took a diving catch off the bowling of Ronsord Beaton.
Cuptill was then joined by captain Marlon Samuels and they both looked to build on the foundation that was laid. However, Guptill was no match for Sunil Narine’s mystery spin and was bowled for 34.
Guptill’s dismissal led to a flurry as Orlando Peters, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir and Tontinto Willet fell for very little runs.
Carlos Brathwaite then took to the crease and stroked a few lusty blows to power the Patriots to a respectable 149 off their allotted 20 overs.
In response, the Amazon Warriors looked to make light work of the Patriots’ total with Tilikaratne Dilshan and Lendl Simmons, as they were soaring along with 19 from the first three overs. The Amazon Warriors however lost Dilshan when he tried to keep up the early momentum but miscued a shot and was caught by Tonito Willet.
His departure brought Dinesh Ramdim to the crease and he and Simmons took apart the Patriots bowlers, leaving many members of the crowd very disappointed by the poor bowling performance.
Ramdin and Simmons went on to stroke a partnership of 65 from 38 balls to dent any hope of a Patriots victory.
When Simmons was out for 41, the tide seemed as if it was turning in favour of the Patriots following a few tight overs from Afridi and Shamshi.
However, Ramdin recaptured his aggressiveness and continued his mission of destroying the Patriots bowlers, including taking 28 runs off an over from Afridi that also saw him hitting four consecutive sixes.
Ramdin then guided his side to victory with four overs to spare.
He was named Man of the Match with 54 not out from 35 balls.
Patriots captain Marlon Samuels indicated that his team batted and bowled well but lapsed in the field which accounted for the loss.
He was questioned about the team’s batting line-up that came under scrutiny and responded by saying that the best batsmen had to face as much balls as possible.
The Patriots next game will be played today (Jul. 4) at 12:00 p.m.
In the second game of the evening, the St. Lucia Zouks scored the second highest total in CPL history as they posted 203 off their 20 overs on the backs of half centuries from Kevin Peitersen and Andre Fletcher.
In response, the Tridents fell well short of their target as they could have only mustered 172-7 despite some late big hitting from Kieron Pollard and Jason Holder.
