Darren Bravo
It was a game that went down to the wire, but ultimately debutant Chemar Holder kept his nerve to help St Lucia Zouks defend 13 runs of the final over to win their third consecutive match in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Nicholas Pooran and Sherfane Rutherford threatened to win the match for the Guyana Amazon Warriors at times, but ultimately the Zouks prevailed in a low-scoring thriller at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium in Tarouba on Sunday.
Opting to bat, Zouks rode on a brilliant half century from Roston Chase (66 off 51 balls), followed by some handy contributions from Mohammad Nabi (27 off 24) and Javelle Green (19 off 17) as they posted a respectable total of 144/7 in their stipulated 20 overs.
However, Warriors struggled in the chase right from the start and it was only Pooran who could hold the ground as he fought a lone battle by contributing 68 runs. But his efforts went in vain as his team could manage 134 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted overs and went on to lose the match by 10 runs.
Earlier, in the first game of the day, some brutal death hitting from Darren Bravo and Kieron Pollard helped Trinbago Knight Riders easily defeat Barbados Tridents by 19 runs.
Batting first, Knight Riders posted 185/3, this season's highest score with Bravo and Pollard playing brilliant knocks of 54 off 36 balls and 41 off just 17 respectively.
Chasing such a big total, Tridents did start well with openers Johnson Charles and Shai Hope stitching a 68-run partnership. However, once Hope got out for 36, wickets started falling at regular intervals. Charles did try to keep his team in the hunt but following his dismissal for 52, Knight Riders' bowlers tightened the screws and restricted Tridents to 166/6 in their allotted 20 overs.
Brief scores: St Lucia Zouks 144/7 (Chase 66; Tahir 3/22) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 134/8 (Pooran 68; Kuggeleijn 3/24) by 10 runs
Brief scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 185/3 (DM Bravo 54; Nurse 1/20) beat Barbados Tridents 166/6 (Charles 52; Fawad 1/14) by 19 runs
