Zouks beat Tallawahs on Pietersen's 2014 debut

Mervin Mathew's 3 for 15 set up a shock seven-wicket victory for St Lucia Zouks over Jamaica Tallawahs on Saturday at Warner Park in St Kitts. The Zouks registered just their second win of the season while the Tallawahs wasted a chance to leapfrog the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel into sole possession of first place in CPL 2014.

The Tallawahs got off to a decent start after being sent in to bat as Chadwick Walton bashed five sixes on his way to top-scoring with 48 opening the innings. However, no one else in the top five made it past 10. Darren Sammy caused some middle-order damage with the wickets of Owais Shah for 8 and Adam Voges for 4.

Mathew made further inroads with the wickets of Nkrumah Bonner for 10 and Andre Russell for 18 to deprive the Tallawahs their best chance of a strong finishing kick to the innings. Mathew dismissed Jerome Taylor on the first ball of the 20th for the last Tallawahs wicket as they were wiped out for 143, a paltry total considering the tiny boundaries at Warner Park.

After Daniel Vettori removed Johnson Charles in the fifth over of the chase for 16, Andre Fletcher and Kevin Pietersen produced a 60-run stand for the second wicket as the Zouks coasted toward the below-par target. Pietersen's mere presence underscored how badly he was missed throughout the earlier part of a season in which the Zouks middle order routinely folded cheaply. Fletcher played with increasing freedom and finished with a game-high 49 off 35 balls before he fell leg before to Russell in the 13th.

Pietersen only made 23 by the time he was dismissed in the 16th to make it 119 for 3, but the stability he provided took pressure off the rest of the Zouks squad. Henry Davids (29 not out) and Sohail Tanvir (20 not out) finished off the match with ease as Tanvir clubbed two sixes in the 18th to finish off the game with 15 balls to spare.