Tallawahs win CPL T20

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC): JAMAICA TALLAWAHS defeated Guyana Amazon Warriors by nine wickets in the final of the HERO Motocorp Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 cricket competition at Warner Park here last night.

The Jamaicans, who were winning the regional T20 for a second time, were led by a spectacular bowling effort, which was matched by opener Chris Gayle’s belligerent half-century that rocketed them to victory with a whopping 7.1 overs to spare.

Gayle, the team’s captain, smashed 54 off 27 balls, scoring at a strike rate of exactly 200 per cent, with six mighty sixes and three fours.

The left-handed thoroughly dominated a 79-run opening stand with Chadwick Walton, who struck only two fours in his 36-ball knock, to remain unbeaten on 25 at the end with Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara, who scored 12 off 15 balls.

Amazon Warriors’ skipper, Reyad Emrit, took the only wicket to fall, claiming 1-13 off the overs.

In comparison, the Tallawahs’ bowling attack fired on all cylinders from the very first ball when André Russell dismissed Neil Maddinson when he got the ball to nick the edge of the batsman into the safe gloves of wicketkeeper Sangakkara.

The Warriors’ Chris Lynn followed soon after with the score on nine, and despite a third-wicket stand worth 41 runs between Dwayne Smith and Jason Mohammed, they caved in towards the bottom end of the innings, with the last six wickets going for a meagre 23 runs as they were bowled out in 16.1 overs.

Sohail Tanvir top-scored with 42, while Imad Wasim, 3-21, Kesrick Williams, 2-12, and Shakib al Hasan, 2-25, were the Tallawahs bowlers inflicting major damage.