Asif Ali struck an unbeaten 47 while Glenn Phillips added 44 as the Jamaica Tallawahs comfortably defeated the St Lucia Zouks by 5 wickets in their opening Caribbean Premier League match at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Wednesday. 

“We came here to get two points and we did, regardless of what happened last year, we started with a win and that’s the main thing,” said Tallawahs skipper Rovman Powell in reference to the Jamaicans’ last place finish in the CPL last season.

Pakistani Ali, who faced 27 balls, helped himself to 5 fours and 2 sixes in his CPL debut against Keswick Williams, 2 for 32. 

St Lucia Zouks, sent in by Jamaican Tallawahs, reached 158 for seven off their 20 overs with Roston Chase 52, Najibullah Zadran 25 and Andre Fletcher 22 getting most runs.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-25 and Veerasammy Permaul 2-34 were the main wicket-takers for the Tallawahs.

The Tallawahs will face the Trinbago Knight Riders on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Jamaica time.