CPL: Lewis, Nabi rout winless Stars

A powerful innings from Evin Lewis of 92 off 52 balls and a good all-round performance from Mohammad Nabi headlined the Patriots 33 run victory against St Lucia Stars in Match 10 of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL). 

Lewis’ innings helped establish a platform from which the Patriots posted 196-6 after some late hitting from Nabi. It was a total that proved too many for a struggling Stars team who have now lost all four of their matches this season. Nabi and Mohammad Hafeez in particular proved difficult for the Stars to get away and took six wickets between them.

After being put into bat the Patriots innings was given a quick start by the dangerous opening pair of Chris Gayle and Lewis. After 35 runs had come from the first 16 balls of the innings Gayle was bowled by an excellent yorker from Jerome Taylor. In the same over Taylor removed Mohammad Hafeez, trapped lbw for a first ball duck. A tight fourth over meant the Patriots had been pulled back at 38 for 2. 

It was then that Lewis stepped up his assault, clattering Taylor’s third over for eighteen before back-to-back sixes off the last two balls of the Powerplay propelled the Patriots to 73 for 2, with 45 of them coming from Lewis who scored heavily on the leg side.

In the six overs after the Powerplay the Patriots appeared happy to consolidate their good start while the Stars, particularly Shane Shillingford, bowled accurately. Just 36 runs and the wicket of Brandon King—caught despite a collision between Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles—took the Patriots to 109 for 3 after 12 overs. 

The introduction of Marlon Samuels in the thirteenth over sparked Lewis into life once more as he hit four boundaries in three overs—two slog sweeps and two cuts through backward point. A brief rain delay brought a halt to proceedings and when they returned Lewis was caught at a wide slip for an excellent 92.

The job was then left to the Patriots lower-order hitters Carlos Brathwaite and Nabi to capitalise on Lewis’ good work, which they did emphatically. 46 runs came from the last 19 balls of the innings, including eight boundaries with Brathwaite scoring 21 (14) and Nabi scoring 24* (9). 

Like the Patriots innings the Stars’ was given a quick start by their famed opening pair Andre Fletcher, who played late and delicately, and Johnson Charles, who played with muscular power – together they took 31 from the first three overs. 

The introduction of Mohammad Hafeez put the brakes on the Stars innings and in his first two overs he dismissed Charles, top-edging a slog and Kamran Akmal, mis-timing a drive. Those two wickets and some tight bowling put the Stars behind the rate at 58 for 2 after eight overs.  

Fletcher and Samuels briefly threatened a resurgence, striking four boundaries in eight balls but when Samuels was caught and bowled by Hafeez off a leading edge the Patriots moved clear once more. 

With Fletcher and Shane Watson at the crease and Darren Sammy to come, hope was not lost for the Stars but some excellent spin bowling by Nabi restricted their scoring and saw the rate spiral. When Fletcher was bowled by a seam-up yorker from Nabi and then Sammy was bowled by Shamsi that spiralling rate suddenly became insurmountable. (CPLT20)