MISBAH-ul-Haq held his nerves to steer the St Lucia Zouks to their first win in this year’s Limacol Caribbean Premier League (LCPL) T20 Championships, when they defeated Guyana Amazon Warriors by five wickets in a last-over thriller at the Guyana National Stadium last Sunday night.

Misbah struck four sixes, two in the final over off Mohammed Hafeez, in his unbeaten 49 (33 balls) which, along with Devon Smith (24), Andre Fletcher (23) and skipper Darren Sammy’s unbeaten 21, steered the Zouks to 129 for 5 from 19.3 overs.
This was in reply to the Amazon Warriors’ 126 for 6 posted from their 20 overs, after they were asked to bat first on a sluggish track with Lendl Simmons (33) and Christopher Barnwell’s explosive unbeaten 29 (14 balls, 2×4; 2×6), providing the impetus for a challenging total against the spin of Shane Shillingford who snared 3 for 25.
A packed-to-capacity venue, whose fans performed the Mexican wave on several occasions during the Zouks’ innings, saw Simmons and Martin Guptil post 34 for the first wicket, with both openers hitting Albie Morkel, Gary Mathurin and Sammy for boundaries in the first three overs.
The home team, who prior to the loss enjoyed a perfect 2-0 record and was looking to chalk up their third win to stay unbeaten with the Barbados Tridents, lost Guptil who was bowled by Mathurin in the fifth over for 12 (10 balls, 1×4).
Enter Hafeez 13 (1×6) to a loud applause which got louder when he hoisted Mathurin over the head of Misbah at long on for 6, but succumbed to Shillingford’s second delivery of the contest, via the lbw route to leave the his side on 53 for 2 in the 10th over.
The Amazon Warriors skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan entered to a loud roar from the flag-waving spectators, and he looked on from the other end as Simmons spanked both Shillingford and the fiery Tino Best for boundaries, with the one off Best, sparking off another Mexican wave.
However, Shillingford had the last laugh when he accounted for both Simmons whose 38 took him 42 balls to accumulate and was decorated with five fours, and Narsingh Deonarine (0) in the space of three balls.
Best accounted for Sarwan (8), who touched one through to Fletcher and James Franklin (3) was run-out by a direct hit from Tamim Iqbal to leave the home team on 84 for 6 in the 17th over, at which point Barnwell was joined by Denesh Ramdin.
The pair added 42 from 3.1 overs to save their team from being dismissed under the 100-run mark, with Barnwell hitting Sammy for two fours in the 18th over, while Ramdin carved Best through the covers for his lone four, before Barnwell took 17 off the final over that was bowled by Shillingford, which included two sixes over wide long on.
Fletcher started in a rampant mood for the Zouks, who threw all caution to the wind in their reply, by hitting Hafeez for two sixes, before he lost both Iqbal (3) and Herschelle Gibbs (6), to Veerasammy Permaul and Sunil Narine respectively at 29 for 2.
It became 42 for 3, when Fletcher holed out to Guptil at long-on off Deonarine’s first delivery of the 10th over, but a sedate-looking Misbah and Devon Smith 24 (4×4) pushed the score to 88, with Misbah hitting Deonarine for two sixes in the 12th over, while Smith struck Franklin for a hat-trick of fours two overs later, to ease the pressure that was mounting on the Zouks.
However, an alert Ramdin got rid of Smith who attempted to steal a single after he dug out a delivery from Narine, with the ball lobbing into the air, while a direct hit from Hafeez accounted for Morkel (0) who was sent back by Misbah, who had played the delivery to mid off.
It was the last hurrah for the Amazon Warriors, as Sammy joined Misbah in the 17th over and struck Santokie for two fours, but the Zouks still needed 28 fro 18 balls, with Narine giving them six in the 18th over and Santokie 12, which included a six from Sammy that sailed over wide long on.
With 10 needed off the final over that was bowled by Pakistan’s T20 skipper Hafeez to his ODI skipper Misbah, the first ball was played forward defensively while the next two were dispatched with disdain over long on, silencing the fans at the venue while sparking off celebrations in the Zouks’ camp.
Permaul (1 for 13), Narine (1 for 18) and Deonarine (1 for 20) were the successful bowlers for the Amazon Warriors, while Misbah was declared the Man-of-the-Match and also collected the prize for Most Sixes struck in the contest, having struck four in comparison to the two struck by Fletcher and Barnwell.

SCORECARD

GUYANA AMAZON WARRIORS
L. Simmons b Shillingford 38
M. Guptil b Mathurin 12
M. Hafeez lbw b Shillingford 13
R. Sarwan c wkp. Fletcher b Best 9
N. Deonarine lbw b Shillingford 0
J. Franklyn run-out (Sammy) 3
C. Barnwell not out 29
D. Ramdin not out 13
Extras: (lb-4, w-5, nb-1) 10
Total: (for 6 wickets off 20 overs) 126
Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-53, 3-73 4-73, 5-82, 6-84,
Bowling: Morkel 2-0-14-0 (w-1), Mathurin 4-0-23-1, Sammy 4-0-26-0, Shillingford 4-0-25-3 (w-1), Best 4-0-28-1 (w-2, nb-1), Sebastien 2-0-8-0.

ST LUCIA ZOUKS
T. Iqbal lbw b Permaul 6
A. Fletcher c Guptil b Deonarine 23
H. Gibbs lbw b Narine 6
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 49
D. Smith run-out (Ramdin) 24
A. Morkel run-out (Hafeez) 0
D. Sammy not out 21
Total: (for 5 wickets, off 19.3 overs) 129
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-29, 3-42, 4-88, 5-88.
Bowling: Hafeez 3.3-0-33-0, Santokie 4-0-30-0, Permaul 4-0-13-1, Narine 4-0-18-1, Deonarine 3-0-20-1, Franklyn 1-0-15-0.