An absolutely magnificent unbeaten century from Chris Gayle powered Jamaica Tallawahs to a commanding seven-wicket win over the
Bowled: The Trinbago Knight Riders put up a valiant effort but were destroyed by the Jamaica Tallawahs in match seven of the CPL
Trinbago Knight Riders in match seven of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL). It was also the final home match for the hot and cold Knight Riders who hit the road with just two points from their four matches at the Queen’s Park Oval.
Set 192 to win from their 20 overs at just under 10 runs per over the Tallawahs raced home to their second win in as many matches with 10 balls to spare.
The powerful Jamaican, Gayle finished unbeaten on 108 (54 balls; 6×4; 11×6) his 18th T20 century and third in CPL with his 10th maximum from the 49th ball he faced. He also hit six fours. Gayle was caught on the midwicket boundary on 94 off Ronsford Beaton only to be called back after television replays showed that the bowler over stepped the front crease. The next ball, the free hit was hit with brute force over long-off to bring up a masterful knock in front a sea of red of about 15,000 vocal spectators.
It was destiny for Gayle to get to three figures as Akmal failed to remove the bails when he was out of his crease off Narine. Gayle also had two chances one each from Mc Cullum and Searles to go with the scare from the no-ball.
With Andre Russell, 24 from 18 balls (2×4;1×6) Gayle added 108 runs for the third wicket after opener Chadwick Walton (13) and Kumar Sangakkara (20) were back in the hut. No Knight Riders bowler was spared except Sunil Narine who bowled 4-0-9-1 with the Tallawahs contented with just seeing him off and attacking at the other end.
After being sent in, the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) openers started with all guns blazing especially against the spinners. Brendon Mc Cullum who had faced 17 balls in his first two innings for 13 runs, hit three fours and three sixes from 18 balls before he was bowled by Imad Wasim. The tournament’s only centurion, Colin Munro then joined Hashim Amla who was on 13 at that time with the score on 49/1 half way through the sixth over. At the end of the power play TKR were 52/1 while at the halfway stage they got to 90 without further loss and the foundation was laid for a fabulous finish of 191/4.
Munro and Amla carried on for 11 and a half overs to add 103 for the second wicket before Munro was caught behind for 55 (39 balls; 5×4; 1×6) with the score on 152/2 at the end of the 17th over. Amla who was dropped on 26 by Wasim and on 50 by Sangakkara was eventually caught behind off Kesrick Williams in the final over for 74 (52 balls; 6×4; 3×6). Dwayne Bravo and Javon Searles had two boundaries each to push the final score to a very commanding 191/4, their highest score in four matches and it was game on. Imad Wasim (1/18), Kesrick Williams (1/34) and Dayle Steyn (1/56) were all roughed up.
For the crucial game, the home team dropped the struggling left arm spinner Nikita and brought in medium pacer Javon Searles for his first match while Andre Mc Carthy was preferred to Nkrumah Bonner.
Both teams will play their next match in Guyana against the unbeaten Amazon Warriors. The Tallawahs will be the first to Providence for their game on Thursday while the Trinbago Knight Riders who have a few more days off and will play the Warriors in a return fixture on Sunday July 10. Both matches begin at 19:00 Hrs.
