Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel registered a resounding nine-wicket win over St.Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain on Monday.
The openers Ewin Lewis and Kevin O'Brien hammered the listless Zouks attack to all parts as they delivered victory for their team. Red Steel were chasing a paltry 137 for victory. Left-hander Ewin Lewis and Irishman O' Brien put on 129 runs in 13.5 overs and in the process broke a one- day-old opening record set by Martin Guptill and Lendl Simmons for the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
Dwayne Bravo's men achieved the target with as many as 32 balls remaining. This shows how dominant they were. The men in red reigned supreme with both bat and ball.
Ewin Lewis bludgeoned 77 runs with no less than 12 fours and a couple of sixes. A chase of 137 meant they could take their time but the openers started out as aggressively as ever. In the second over O' Brien hit a four through cover off left-arm spinner Garey Mathurin. This opened the floodgates. Ewin Lewis taking a cue from his opening partner walloped three boundaries in the next over off Sohail Tanvir. The second four, a straight drive, was hit with so much force that Tanvir was compelled to duck.
It was then Mathirin's turn to be given the same treatment as Lewis hit a four off a ball sliding down the legside. O' Brien, not to be left out, hammered a six over extra cover in the same over.
Darren Sammy introduced himself but Lewis showed scant respect to the Zouks skipper as he thumped him all over the park. The Red Steel left-hander took 20 runs of Sammy's over as he struck a couple of fours and sixes. The first six was particularly memorable as it cleared the cover boundary.
The batsmen continued in the same vein as Lewis brought up his fifty in the seventh over off medium pacer Ray Jordan. In the ninth over, with the score on 79, Lewis was granted a reprieve as he was dropped by Melvin Matthew at third man. He made them pay in the same over as two more fours came off his bat.
O' Brien by then had reached 21. Not one to be left out of the proceedings, he cleared the boundary off Shillingford in the next over. By now Red Steel were coasting to victory.
St.Lucia Zouks did have the solitary success in the form of Shillingford scalping Lewis but only a few runs more were needed to be made by then. O' Brien brought up his fifty and ensured Red Steel won the game.
Earlier, Bravo's men put in a disciplined performance with the ball as they restricted the Zouks to only 136. Sammy's men could never get going, after choosing to bat.
Spinner Samuel Badree bagged his 100th wicket in T20s as he brought about the demise of both openers.
The faster men Fidel Edwards and Kevon Copper took a wicket each. Dwayne Bravo and Javon Searles scalped a solitary wicket too.
For the Zouks there was only resistance from skipper Sammy as made 46 while the others floundered. The lack of good partnerships hampered them as a 27-run stand between Sammy and Tonito Willet was the highest for the Zouks.
In the end, 136 was always too little against the powerful Red Steel batting lineup.
Points Table
1) Red Steel - 10 points
2) Guyana Amazon Warriors - 8 points
3) Jamaica Tallawahs - 6 points
4) Barbados Tridents - 6 points
5) Antigua Hawksbills - 0 points
6) St.Lucia Zouks - 0 points
