Zouks bulldoze Warriors on course to 1st CPL final

By Jemima Holmes

By now it has probably become a household tale of the Guyana Amazon Warriors’ misfortunes at the final of the Hero Caribbean Premier League. But, alas, on Tuesday evening, the St. Lucia Zouks pushed it one step further when they subjected the Warriors to the ultimate heartbreak just one step before the big game.
To tell the truth, going into the second semifinal of the tournament and the day, neither team could be considered better than the other. Although in previous years the Guyana franchise held the upper hand over their St Lucia counterparts, 2020 has been the year when the Zouks turned the proverbial tables on the Warriors, as they had a much better outing than had obtained in years gone by. In the preliminaries, the Zouks and Warriors had each won one encounter when they faced each other, and both teams finished on 12 points. So, from all indications, the playing field was level in the semifinal. That is until the Zouks tipped the scales.

Sammy: The man with the plan
During his semifinal lead-up press conference, Zouks’ Skipper Darren Sammy had indicated that there was already a plan to cut down the Warriors.
“In the last four games, they have chased and won,” Sammy stated.
Clearly, Captain Sammy had already formulated his game plan, and was eagerly awaiting the opportunity to strike. Upon winning the toss on Tuesday afternoon, an ecstatic Sammy opted to bowl first. The Warriors, on the other hand, did not know what was about to hit them.
Coming to the crease first, the Warriors opted for the same opening pair of Chandrapaul Hemraj and Brandon King, who haven’t been able to find their synchrony at the top of the order all year.
Scott Kuggeleijn came back into the Zouks squad after missing out on the last game, and immediately made an impact that would cost the Warriors the win. After two dot balls in the first over, Kuggeleijn’s third delivery to Brandon King may or may not have picked up a knick of the bat and zinged straight through to the keeper.

Regardless of what King thought, the umpire raised the dreaded finger, and with no review system to rely on, King had no choice but to walk.
Unlike in his last two innings, Shimron Hetmyer did not come to the crease to stay a while; it was more of a drive-by, as he opted to leave Kuggeleijn’s fourth delivery alone, striking a pose, if you will. Swinging in, the delivery deceived Hetmyer, hitting the stumps to welcome his exit.
Nicholas Pooran survived the hat trick ball and the remainder of the over, to allow the Warriors to breathe a sigh of relief.
A maiden over from Mohammad Nabi followed, building up the pressure on the Warriors’ batsmen. With Kuggeleijn taking the third, Pooran was finally able to open his arms and play his natural game, hitting the bowler for back-to-back boundaries.
The partnership between Pooran and Hemraj, though in its infancy, seemed to be the one that would get the Warriors through the difficult overs before they could score a little more freely. But the partnership lasted all but 14 runs, when, at 14-2, Pooran mistimed a shot to long on, which could not clear the boundary. Covering ground well, Mark Deyal began his man- of-the-match campaign with a Republic Bank classic catch, diving forward to dismiss Pooran.
After a slew of singles in the ensuing overs, Ross Taylor went cheaply for 3, falling lbw to Ronston Chase.
At 24-4, it was all falling apart for the Warriors, but Hemraj sought to build some kind of partnership with whichever player came to bat next. It was Keemo Paul, who was quite content to hit the odd single and rotate the strike for just about two overs before the pressure of the run rate got to his head. Paul slogged one over the onside, probably not putting much thought into the shot or the situation at hand, and picked out Ronston Chase to give Kesrick Williams his first wicket.
Chris Green was next on the cards to try to muster some substance with Hemraj, but even the captain could not seem to hold on for long enough to get the Warriors to a respectable total. Following a Hero Maximum off the first ball of the 12th, Green chose to retry the shot, but this time around, Nabi was waiting on the ropes to take the catch.
The real nightmare at the Brian Lara Academy came with the score at 55. It was a horrific scene as the remainder of the batting order went without troubling the scores, not even drawing out the lucky wide.
Mark Deyal clean bowled Hemraj to end his attempts at anchoring the innings, and Romario Shepherd returned the very next ball softly to Deyal for a caught-and-bowled opportunity that he did not pass up.
Kevin Sinclair and Imran Tahir both made their exit in the 14th in subsequent balls, to leave the Warriors with a score that has been recorded as the second lowest total in CPL history.
During the post-match chat, Sammy finally revealed that thought process behind his game plan.
“We wanted to win the toss and bowl first, and we got that right. If you notice, the games being played here at 5:30 pm, all the games with the team batting in the first innings in the day have not scored 100. I don’t know if it’s the dew falling on the wicket that makes it difficult batting first, but I told Rawl Lewis I have a feeling we’ll restrict them to under 100, but I did not foresee 55.”
And to see his plan go that easily made Sammy put his pearly whites on display.

Easy like Sunday Morning
There was nothing for Rahkeem Cornwall and Mark Deyal to rush during the chase. After all, 56 from 120 was easy picking.
Rather than take it one ball at a time, the opening pair had different plans, almost as though they were rushing to achieve a better run rate. Two maximums came of Cornwall’s bat in the first over bowled by Chris Green, and in the second, he punished Imran Tahir with three boundaries.
The Warriors captain next opted for pace in Naveen Ul Haq, but the result was the same, as this bowler was dispatched for 16. Tahir came back for the third, and went for 11; by which time the Warriors knew their cause was lost, with just three required of their opponents for the win.
Instead of going for the flare, the pair rotated strike with singles to see their team home safely, in St. Lucia’s first ever 10-wicket win.
Visibly disappointed, Captain Chris Green was increasingly proud of how the Guyanese franchise was able to make it, considering their earlier slump in the tournament. Green stated, “It’s a disappointing effort to be knocked out like that, but full credit has to go to Daren and his team. They completely outplayed us tonight. You can’t score 55 and expect to defend it.
“Nonetheless, I’m incredibly proud of our guys, the way we turned it around. Had a tough start, we came together; everything I asked of them, they gave 100%. We had a lot of fun together as a group. Some guys have stood up this tournament. I’m especially excited about some of our young players, Ashmead Nedd and Kevin Sinclair forcing their way into their best XI has been something I’m really proud of.”
For his part, Darren Sammy was figuratively over the moon to have made it to his first CPL final with his home franchise, the St. Lucia Zouks.
“The way our boys have played, to the Zouks fans, they’ve been begging for something like that. I told the guys in the dressing room, ‘This is not what we came here for; we didn’t come here to celebrate a semi-final’. Nobody really gave us a chance. The guys we have, we have effective guys. We don’t have guys in the top 5 or 10 in runs, but we play as a team. It’s a massive effort to get to the finals with the players we have. To have an opportunity to play and for St Lucia Zouks in the final is a massive achievement,” Sammy shared.
The St Lucia Zouks have a date with destiny on Thursday, September 10, when they play the Trinbago Knight Riders in the final match of the Hero Caribbean Premier League 2020 tournament.