St Lucia Zouks being patient after two defeats have come out with a glorious victory over Jamaica Tallawahs. It was Rahkeem Cornwall who played a fab innings with the bat.
During the first innings, wicket-keeper batsmen Glenn Phillips has managed to add a half-ton to the score but Chris Gayle who was seen making a century in his previous match was sent to pavilion with a golden duck. Being the top and experienced batsmen, Gayle left the team with huge disappointment with his dismissal at a very early stage.
Later on, Chadwick Walton who came on to the field couldn’t put his best. However, Rovman Powell has put out his strikes to add up the score with 44 runs in just 22 deliveries. The game saw an unfortunate incident when Andre Russell was been struck on the back of the head by a Hardus Viljoen bouncer. Russell was taken to hospital and given the all-clear after a scan.
Further, Obed McCoy has knocked out Chris Gayle with his first delivery and also didn’t let Walton stay longer time on the field. Fawad Ahmed has also made some crucial picks of the opener Glenn Phillips and the Powell who has led the score. Jamaica’s with their slow batting when out with an injury and finally were ended up scoring 170 runs with 5 wickets fall.
Moreover, St Lucia has made a good start of the second innings where they are set to chase a target of 171 runs. St Lucia was seen heads up in the match to beat the required run rate on the field.
The openers Andre Fletcher and Rahkeem Cornwall showcased some great shots in the match where Cornwall has stood out and contributed 75 runs in just 30 deliveries. He has gone with an extremity of four boundaries and awful eight which went out of boundaries. After the stunners dismissal, the score slowed its chase.
With John Campbell being knocked out with a duck in 3 deliveries and Colin de Grandhomme was seen bagged 25 runs in a long 20 deliveries. However, the batters had finally achieved the race in just 16.4 overs and smashed the victory against Jamaica Thallawahs.
Shamar Springer has made a smart pick of the striker Cornwall whereas Ramaal Lewis has put out Campbell without making a single run. Oshane Thomas has been bowling so well that he once again went with a hat-trick in the second inning. In spite of Thomas struggle, St Lucia’s had their win.
Winning captain Daren Sammy expressed out as: “Firstly it’s good to know that Russell is okay. The bowlers came back well in the last 10 overs, and Cornwall and Fletcher capitalized in the first 10 overs. The way to bowl in the last 10 overs is all we discussed in the team meeting. Fletcher took us to the victory. We have waited since 2016 and we’ve been waiting for this win for a long time. The fans at home have been asking for victory at home, they’ll come out in numbers in the next match.”
Losing captain Chris Gayle spoke out: “That is good news (Russell is back in the hotel). Nothing serious. Hopefully, he’s back on the field in a couple of days. It is disappointing. St Lucia bowled well, we got a partnership after the early wickets but did not capitalize. We were also poor with our bowling in the first six overs. Few plans didn’t work. Need to go back to the drawing boards tonight and come back strong against Knight Riders tomorrow. That is the right team – defending champions – to try and turn things around.”
Rahkeem Cornwall who was awarded the Man of the Match said:” Always a good feeling to get the team over the line, first win for us. On this pitch, I was just waiting for the right ball to attack. I just backed myself to hit the ball out of the park. We have had a positive mindset since the start of the tournament. The second half was brilliant as the bowlers put the ball in the right areas and restricted them”
