Bowlers send St Lucia packing

Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel 105 for 4 (O'Brien 37, Mathurin 2-24) beat St Lucia Zouks 99 for 5 (Fletcher 46, Badree 2-18) by 6 wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

St Lucia Zouks were eliminated from the inaugural Caribbean Premier League after succumbing to a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel at Sabina Park in Kingston. T&T on the other hand, booked their berth in the semi-finals by moving up to fourth place in the table ahead of Antigua Hawksbills.

St Lucia, who were at the bottom of the table when the match began, needed a win to stand a chance of making it into the semis, but an incisive bowling performance from T&T, spearheaded by an economical spell of 2 for 18 from legspinner Samuel Badree, restricted St Lucia to a paltry 99 in their 20 overs.

Put in to bat, St Lucia never really got going, and lost the opener Tamim Iqbal in the third over when he made room to clear the infield and was bowled by Fidel Edwards. Badree then seized the initiative by dismissing Dwayne Smith for a golden duck, and four over later, he castled Misbah-ul-Haq's off stump with one that kept very low to leave St Lucia struggling at 36 for 3 in the eighth over.

Andre Fletcher put up a fighting 46 with a strike-rate of under 80, but he made sure he scored till the end amidst the fall of two more wickets of Herschelle Gibbs and Darren Sammy. While Gibbs was caught and bowled by Kevon Cooper for a 17-ball 10, Sammy played-on to his stumps for 16 after hitting three fours. With the lack of significant partnerships, St Lucia managed 18 off the last three overs, which included only one four, to set up a small chase for T&T.

Kevin O'Brien and Adrian Barath laid a strong foundation by putting up a 56-run stand to leave T&T in a very healthy position. The openers departed in quick succession when O'Brien was beaten by Tino Best to be bowled for 37, and Barath was trapped lbw by Shane Shillingford three balls later.

Mahela Jayawardene and Ross Taylor also reached double figures but both were dismissed in Garey Mathurin's successive overs as he finished with 2 for 24 from his four overs. But the lack of runs on the board eventually made the difference, as Darren Bravo and Dwayne Bravo took T&T home with 13 balls to spare.

T&T will next take on Jamaica Tallawahs on Sunday which will determine the semi-final line-ups.