Akeem Jordan made a 4/33 debut on his debut in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and set St Kitts & Nevis Patriots to victory over St. Lucia Zouks with six goals.
Jordans are the second-best numbers for a Hero CPL debut and the best since the first year of the tournament.
He took a wicket in each of his four overs, as the zouks were limited by their 20 overs to 138/9. Overall, the Patriots chased thanks to Evin Lewis’ wilder 65 of 30 balls with minimal effort.
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The Patriots recovered quickly from Devon Thomas’ early defeat for just a single, with Lewis and Laurie Evans adding 45 for the second wicket after a brief rain delay.
Evans was overpowered by a beauty of Fawad Ahmed who turned into a tree stump past the edge of the abyss, but Lewis was on a mission.
After setting the record for the fastest Hero CPL of all time, half a century ago, he was only the second to score 100 Hero CPL sixes in his career with the first of his six sixes here. Chris Gayle has 160.
Lewis dominated a 62-run stand with Mohammad Hafeez, who ended the game as a contest. With his fifth six, he reached his 50 in only 26 balls and hit tall and handsome in front of Kavem Hodge.
This started a run of 20 runs in four balls before Hodge forced a degree of revenge and Lewis finally scored a goal caught by Roland Cato at the border.
The Patriots were only 14 minutes from their destination when another rainstorm forced another brief break, but the home team’s celebrations did not last long.
Mohammad Hafeez fell in love with the finish line in sight at 26, but Carlos Brathwaite finished the job with a huge six – and a whopping 31 balls to win a victory that had remained on the cards since that dramatic first hero The CPL Spell from Jordan, the Zouks reduced to 33/3.
Jordan hit an important blow the first night as Andre Fletcher slammed a short ball straight to Fabian Allen. On his next overtaking maneuver, he picked up an even bigger wicket as the shapely Rahkeem Cornwall cut one off the third man, where Sheldon Cottrell made a clever catch.
Hodge had lost some limits in Jordan’s third position in power play, but then looked for a third. Usama Mir had to work in the middle of the inning and dismissed Cato and Colin de Grandhomme while giving up only 13 runs in four expert trials.
De Grandhomme turned 30, while Daren Sammy released a couple of huge heroic maxima at the age of 18.
But Sammy and Kesrick Williams fell in successive balls from keeper Thomas – Williams’s fourth sacrifice for Jordan – on breathtaking dives and left the Zouks 100/8.
Hardus Viljoen and Obed McCoy added an up-and-coming 35 for the ninth wicket, but the damage had been done.
The victory for the Patriots puts them in third place in the Hero CPL table, only behind the undefeated heavyweight pair Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders.
