Jamaica Tallawahs endured a spectacular collapse that saw them lose their final preliminary round match of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) to the St Lucia Zouks at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando on Sunday.
SCORES: St Lucia Zouks 145/6 (20) versus Jamaica Tallawahs 134/9. Tallawahs suffered an 11-run loss to finish fourth with seven points, while the Zouks ended third on 12 points.
Chasing a competitive 146 for victory against a varied St Lucia attack, the Tallawahs started brilliantly reaching 84 without loss until spinners Javelle Glen and Zakir Khan sparked a collapse that saw them lose seven wickets in the space of 19 runs.
Najibullah Zadran (35), Rahkeem Cornwall (32) and Roston Chase (32 not out) gave the Zouks bowlers something to work with. The bowlers accepted this and were right on the ball.
In-form openers, Jermaine Blackwood and Glenn Phillips looked in fine touch and batted with great confidence. They added 84 runs before Phillip left in the 12th over for 49 off 36 balls with a six and four fours. Blackwood soon followed for 25 and the collapse was set in motion.
In the end, all the Tallawahs could have mustered is 134/9 to lose the encounter. Glen finished with figures of 3/16 and Zakir Khan, 3/25.
Earlier, Zouks won the toss and decided to take first strike on a good batting strip. Cornwall and Mark Deyal started well but as soon as Deyal left for 13 with the score at 25, the innings changed complexion. The Jamaican spinners in Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Sandeep Lamachanne stifled the opposition and also took wickets. Zouks lost four wickets in the space of 38 runs.
It took a partnership of 61 runs in eight overs between the forthright Zadran and the solid Chase to bring the Zouks back into the encounter. They did so well that Zouks could have scored many more as with four overs to go they already had 118 runs on the tins. Zadran faced 25 balls for his 35 that included three sixes and a four and Chase made his 32 not out off 36 balls with a four and a six.
However, the Tallawahs led by speedster Fidel Edwards came back strongly to leak only 27 runs from the last four overs.
SCORES:
St Lucia Zouks 145/6 (20) (Najibullah Zadran 35, Rahkeem Cornwall 32, Roston Chase 32 no, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2/28) vs Jamaica Tallawahs 134/9 (20) (Glenn Phillips 49, Jermaine Blackwood 25, Javel Glenn 3/16, Zakir Khan 3/25) - Zouks won by 11 runs.
Man of the Match: Zakir Khan.
Final Standings
Place TEAM M W L T N/R PTS NRR
1 TKR 10 10 0 0 0 20 1.294
2 WARRIORS 10 6 4 0 0 12 0.6
3 ZOUKS 10 6 4 0 0 12 -0.021
4 TALLAWAHS 10 3 6 0 1 7 -0.245
5 TRIDENTS 10 3 7 0 0 6 -0.253
6 PATRIOTS 10 1 8 0 1 3 -1.498