Hard hitting Pakistani batsman Asif Ali scored a whirlwind 47-run knock to help Jamaica Tallawah register a comprehensive five-wicket win over St Lucia Zouks and get their Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020 campaign off to a winning start on Wednesday.


Jamaica Tallawahs beat St Lucia Zouks

Chasing a daunting 159- run target, Jamaica's chase went off the track as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 84 for 4 at one stage before their star all-rounder Asif resurrected their innings with a quick-fire innings.

Asif was joined by Windies power hitter Andre Russell, who struggled a bit scoring only 16 off 17. However, Carlos Brathwaite stuck along with Asif and provided the finishing touch to the Tallawahs after scoring a crucial 18* off 9. Jamaica did not have the best possible start in the chase as they were reduced to 13/2 in the 5th over before Glenn Phillips (44) and Rovman Powell (26) couter-attacked and bailed them out of trouble.

Earlier, the Zouks put up a challenging 158-run total on the back of some good batting performances by Roston Chase (52) and Najibullah (25).

Jamaica Tallawahs 160/5 (Asif Ali 47*, Phillips 44, Powell 26, Brathwaite 18*; Williams 2/32, Cornwall 1/9, McCoy 1/28, Nabi 0/13) beat St Lucia Zouks 158/7 (Chase 52, Najibullah 25, Fletcher 22, Deyal 17; Mujeeb 2/25, Permaul 2/34, Lamichhane 1/23, Russell 1/32) by 5 wickets.

Guyana Amazon Warriors beat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots

Medium pacer Keemo Paul bagged four wickets while Shimron Hetmyer notched up a belligerent 71-run knock to help Guyana Amazon Warriors beat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots by three wickets in a low-scoring Caribbean Premier League clash.

Batting first, St Kitts managed to only post 127 for 8 with Paul wrecking through their batting order scalping 4 wickets for just 19 runs and Proteas spinner Imran Tahir casting a web with 2 for 18. Chasing a below par 128-run target, Hetmyer powered the Warriors chase with relative ease as he smashed 71 off just 44 deliveries to help his team cross the winning line with three overs to spare.

Earlier in the day, St Kitts got their innings off to a flying start, scoring 54/2 in the Powerplay on the back of opener Evin Lewis's 18-ball 30 .However, they could not capitalise on their solid start and the innings fell apart with medium pacer Keemo Paul ripping through their middle order.

Guyana Amazon Warriors 131/7 (Hetmyer 71, Hemraj 19, King 10, Rutherford 10; Emrit 3/31, Cottrell 1/24, Drakes 1/28) beat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 127/8 (Lewis 30, Dunk 29, Emrit 17, Lynn 16; Paul 4/19, Tahir 2/18, Green 1/24) by 3 wickets