On the night that the Beauséjour Stadium was renamed in honour of Daren Sammy, the Zouks captain celebrated with a match winning half-century against the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Sammy recorded his highest Hero CPL score as the Zouks secured a victory that keeps them in the tournament.
The same is not the case for the Patriots who can no longer advance to the knockout stages having recorded just one win in the eight matches they have played so far. They ended up 35 runs short of their victory target meaning they are now playing for pride in their remaining fixtures.
The Zouks batted first and lost Andre Fletcher in the second over to a brilliant diving catch from Alzarri Joseph, but they still got off to a very brisk start thanks to 25 runs from just 14 balls from Johnson Charles.
Charles was looking in excellent touch on his home ground, but he miscued a pull shot off Joseph straight to a fielder right in front of the newly christened Johnson Charles Stand.
The wicket of Charles left the Zouks 39-2 at the start of the fifth over. The run rate was good but having lost both openers they were in danger of losing the momentum that they had built thanks to Charles’ big hitting. That danger became a reality when Shane Watson was out for 15 off the bowling of Jonathan Carter.
Michael Hussey and David Miller attempted to do a rebuilding job, batting for five overs for 25 runs with the hope that they could catch up with the scoring rate later on. While the theory was sound the execution was lacking, Hussey departed for 26, edging behind off Carter.
That brought man of the moment Sammy to the crease at a ground that is now named after him. Thankfully for Sammy and the local crowd he came off brilliantly to take his team to a competitive total. He blasted 59 runs from 35 balls as the Zouks reached 174-9 from their 20 overs.
This was Sammy’s first Hero CPL fifty and his highest T20 score in the Caribbean. It could not have been scripted any better for the Zouks’ captain.
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