Tallawahs turn tables on Warriors

By Jemima Holmes

Déjà vu has a way of resurrecting old memories for anyone, and given the severity of those reminiscences, it can run a winter-cold chill down the spine.

The thought of facing the Jamaica Tallawahs again may have caused a lump in the Warriors’ throats, their having only a few days ago been bowled out by their opponents.
But alas on Tuesday evening, the Jamaica Tallawahs turned the tables and tides on the Guyana Amazon Warriors in match 12 of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020, as both teams played their first game at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain.
On both sides of the coin, the batting performances left much to be desired from teams which each pack a punch in their batting lineup. However, there is always a winner, and unfortunately, it was not the local franchise this time around.
In this topsy-turvy tale, the Tallawahs won the toss and elected to field.

Wicket Frenzy
Having ridden the bench in the 2019 season, Anthony Bramble finally got his moment in the sun, opening with last year’s highest run scorer Brandon King. A great pairing on paper, it was not the same in reality, as the King was dethroned in the first ball of the innings off the bowling of West Indies veteran fast bowler Fidel Edwards.
The following over from Mujeeb Ur Rahman heard cries of an appeal as his final ball casted full on middle and leg to Shimron Hetmyer. Hetmyer, who missed out in the last two games, had his worst fear realised when the umpire raised his finger, sending the youngster back for yet another cheap score.
Commentator Ian Bishop described it as “form dissipating”, but it may have been a case of mistaken identity regarding the direction in which the ball was pitching when Hetmyer was trapped.
Bramble did not make much of a case for his consideration in the future, racking up twelve dot balls in comparison to his score of 7. Calculating Bramble’s anxiety to execute the pull shot in the previous Edwards over, Rovman Powell set his field accordingly, and reaped the fruits of his master plan when the Berbice native pull the ball to midwicket and nestled it safely in the hands of Powell.

A Hero maximum and a boundary off the bat of Ross Taylor in the sixth pushed the Warriors to 30-3 at the end of the powerplay, and although the partnership between Taylor and Pooran looked to be a promising one, it was still a sub-par powerplay score from such a consistent team.
Synchrony between the two looked good on the Warriors, producing 38 runs to get the local franchise to 55 before the ‘wicket jumbie’ visited again to send Nicholas Pooran back to the dugout for 15 runs.
The wicket of Sherfane Rutherford greeted Sandeep Lamichhane with open arms in the first ball of his second over as Rutherford, contrary to his fellow leftie Pooran, opted to play against the turn, sending a top edge to extra cover, which was taken comfortably by Asif Ali.
Keemo Paul approached the middle, and was quite content with rotating the strike with the experienced Taylor. Their time together, however, only spanned five runs before Russell caught Taylor with a beautiful Yorker in front of his middle, causing him to regret not attempting a shot at the ball. And edge to the slips robbed Captain Chris Green of any extra time at the crease.
The second highest partnership came from the most unlikely pair. Keemo Paul, despite not racking up a mountain of runs, displayed maturity in his approach to the bowling from the Tallawahs, which proved to be lethal only minutes before. Played down, tucked, pushed aside and dispatched, Paul fared through the worst of the final overs of Edwards, Rahman and Lamichhane.
Fidel Edwards claimed his 100th T20 wicket when a plum LBW trapped Paul in the 19th, but Naveen Ul Haq was unfazed, sending the ball on a one-way trip to the stands for a much-needed Hero Maximum.
Ul Haq, accompanied by Imran Tahir, did the running between the wickets in the 20th to keep the scoreboard ticking. Some would say that the Warriors’ total would have been slightly larger had the decision been made to award the Warriors their full six runs that was hit by Tahir. Sailing across to deep midwicket, Walton grasped the ball, but fell over the rope and subsequently threw it in to another fielder. Walton could be seen signalling six with the hands, but the fielders were later given the benefit of the doubt.

Cool Runnings?
Since the 2020 season began, Chadwick Walton has never looked like his usual explosive batting self, and the script on Tuesday night was written the same as in games past, with Walton departing early.
At 6-1, the Tallawahs refused to fall prey to their past, having been restricted by the Warriors on Saturday last. As such, Glen Phillips pushed himself into gear, dispatching the usual boundary to keep the score and run rate healthy.
Like the Jamaican bobsled team, it was ‘cool runnings’ for Phillips and Jermaine Blackwood, who last played a CPL match back in 2015. Batting in tandem, Blackwood even mirrored the aggression in Phillips’s game, getting the Tallawahs to 40 by the middle of the sixth. Naveen Ul Haq was punished in the 6th, going for 10 from the first four balls. However, Keemo Paul took a straight forward catch at backward point off Ul Haq’s bowling to book Phillips’s return flight to the bench.
Asif Ali wasn’t given a moment to breathe at the crease, after opting to launch Paul over the ropes. As faith would have it, Green, almost flat on his stomach, scooped up the catch, causing Ali to fly into a rage at Keemo Paul.
There was a moment of intense fear for the Jamaicans in the subsequent overs, as déjà vu from Saturday lurked on the horizons. Skipper Rovman Powell and Jermaine Blackwood fell in quick succession to put the Tallawahs at 62-5.

Danger- Russ!
From a renowned T20 player like Andre Russell, one would expect fireworks from the get-go. But Russell’s beginning looked like a Test match at Lord’s, and visible signs of a nagging injury showed in his refusal to run quick singles. Russell had 4 runs from 12 balls to his name.
Whether it was something in the water or a whiff he caught in the evening air, the Danger man, on one knee, mustered the courage to send Tahir for six in the 15th, and it was the beginning of the end. An over from Paul followed, and he, too, was sent over the ropes by Dre- Russ, who brought the equation down significantly.
At the Bonner end, Nkrumah matched Russell’s class and stride to hit a 6 and 4 in the final deliveries of the 18th to bring home the bacon for the Tallawahs. Even with inhibitions lingering, Dre- Russ proved to be Danger- Russ to the Warriors’ measly total.

Accolades
Even though he walked away with the classic catch of the match, Guyana’s Skipper Chris Green expressed his concern over the consistency of his team’s batting.
He stated, “Early wickets cost us again. I thought their spinners bowled really well up front. We weren’t able to consolidate. We showed glimpses with the Taylor and Pooran partnership. It was probably a 120-130 wicket. Batters really need to start standing up. The wicket was slow and low, really suited spin, ball not coming on. Guys were caught in two minds, to be aggressive or defensive.
“We’ve got the quality in this lineup. The first two games we had someone put their hand up, but it hasn’t happened in the last three. We can’t have 6-7-8-9 coming in the 12-13th over. To take 108 to the 2nd to last over is a quality effort from our bowlers, we just have to be better with the bat.”
Though he was pleased to have another two points, Rovman Powell was also not happy with his team’s batting.
“It’s a close, nail-biting game, and it’s good to come out on top after the last time what happened against Guyana. We asked [Fidel Edwards] to give us a start, and he did just that. Mujeeb has been brilliant. We are not satisfied [with how we chased]. The wicket didn’t cost us. We played bad shots. The wicket is a little bit hard to bat on, let’s not forget that, but bad shot selection has also been a problem,” he said. Mujeeb Ur Rahman was given the man of the match award.