Jamaica Tallawahs' Asif Ali hit a stroke-filled 47 to help his side register a five-wicket win over St Lucia Zouks in their Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020 clash on Wednesday.
Rakheem Cornwall hit two fours in first over bowled by Oshane Thomas and Andre Fletcher was dropped by Andre Russell on just 4. Mark Deyal hit Permaul for consecutive sixes but Permaul had the last laugh as wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton grabbed a good catch. Najibullah Zadran hit Sandeep Lamichhane for a huge six and another boundary from Chase off Russell helped Zouks reach 86/3 in 10 overs.
Big hitters Daren Sammy and Mohammad Nabi were forced to remain quite as Chase and Najibullah were forced to run hard to keep the scoreboard ticking. Nabi hit a six and a boundary off Mujeeb but Nabi ultimtaley succeeded in dismissing his countryman. Chase scored his his first ever T20 fifty off 39 balls, but he was also dismissed by Mujeeb before he could go berserk.
The Tallawahs started the chase nervously and Walton skied Obed McCoy to Sammy at mid-off. Four different bowlers were used by Zouks for the first four overs and all these overs went without a boundary. Nicholas Kirton tried to break the shackles but Deyal grabbed a classic catch to dismiss, thus reducing the Tallawahs to 13/2 in the 5th over.
Things changed dramatically for Tallawahs in the middle overs as Phillips scored freely against Kesrick Williams, and Powell clubbed a pull followed by a straight six off Zahir.
Sensing the danger, Sammy brought back McCoy, and Phillips had to wait till the last ball of the over for a boundary. At the Angostura LLB drinks break, the Tallawahs were 78/3 needing a further 83 when Asif Ali took the charge.
Brief scores: Jamaica Tallawahs 160/5 (Asif Ali 47*, Phillips 44, Powell 26, Brathwaite 18*; Williams 2/32, Cornwall 1/9, McCoy 1/28, Nabi 0/13) beat St Lucia Zouks 158/7 (Chase 52, Najibullah 25, Fletcher 22, Deyal 17; Mujeeb 2/25, Permaul 2/34, Lamichhane 1/23, Russell 1/32) by 5 wickets
