Jamaica Tallawahs celebrated their first Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) victory in a fifth attempt in 2019 after restricting the Barbados Tridents to 140/9 and surviving a mid-innings quack thanks to Chadwick Walton’s unbeaten 51 Doors to get home.
In conditions that are very different from those that saw nearly 500 runs in the record-breaker at last Sabina Park, a pitch that offered turn and especially bounces ensured that batsmen remained honest and spinners were up for grabs everything interested.
The Trident openers Alex Hales and Johnson Charles both fell over the same way. George Worker failed to get over the extra rebound and cut the catches to the point.
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And Bounce continued to worry the Tridents. Leniko Boucher had looked decent for 15 years before dropping a counterattack against Ramaal Lewis, while Jason Holder of Zahir Khan got a beauty that found the bat’s shoulder to allow Gayle to counterattack directly.
JP Duminy tried to keep things together, but when Jonathan Carter left to give Lewis a second wicket, the Tridents were 70/5, with no time left or men left.
Enter Ashley Nurse, who shifted the momentum in fine style. He plundered 14 in three balls from Christopher Lamont and two more Hero Maximums in front of Zahir Khan – which accounts for more than half of all runs he scored in his four overs and made 37 of 17 balls in a 49-run partnership with Duminy,
However, they fell in successive deliveries to bring the Tridents back in trouble immediately. Duminy threw Derval Green in deep cover straight to Lewis, before Nurse was completely deceived by a slower ball to give former English international Jade Dernbach his first Hero CPL wicket. Gayle held on to the chance.
Zahir Khan scored twice in his final with two more claws, the first one hit Hayden Walsh Jr. and the second got even better against the balancing Roshon Primus before Phillips whipped out the claws for a clever stump.
This allowed Sandeep Lamichhane and Josh Lalor to climb the final to some approaching reverence in the last 12 balls.
Gayle and Phillips made the Tallawahs make a quick start. Both men found and regularly set the line to put 48 in the top five overs on the board. Both, however, fell to Trident’s Skipper Holder, who was deep in the quest to take advantage of the final overcoming of Power Field’s field limitations.
Walsh Jr. then removed Worker and Dwayne Smith LBW in successive balls to give Trident’s real hope at 68/4, with 73 still needed.
This hope was fleeting. Javelle Glen hit Lamichhane for two Hero Maximums in the next game, Walton added another and the momentum was tight with the Tallawahs.
They added 45 in just four overs before Glen retired to Hales to show Lamichhane something for a difficult day.
Lewis fell cheap, but the Tallawahs were always in control of things while Walton was at the crease. He ended the match with a six to reach half a century, when the Tallawahs came home with nine balls and their season finally began.
