The Jamaica Tallawahs left Florida heart-broken and winless as they lost by two runs Wednesday evening against the Barbados Tridents, in the 14th fixture of this year’s Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Steve Smith
After two consecutive losses at the Central Broward Stadium, in Lauderhill, the Tallwahs looked on course to break the streak but made a mess of an entertaining run chase in the final over. Tridents amassed 156 – 6 which in the end proved too much for the opposition that fell short at 154 – 3.
The chase began with Johnson Charles and Glen Phillips seeing off Mohammed Irfan and Ashley Nurse in the first two overs to take Tallawahs to 11 – 0, but with the captain Jason Holder putting himself on to bowl the third, he found himself in quite unlucky. Johnson picked up five consecutive fours from Holder in an eventful string of deliveries, but Holder’s luck wasn’t all bad as he finished with a dot ball. He made no mistake of trying another over in the match.
Charles (42) and Phillips (36) continued the onslaught until the former was caught behind by Pooran off Steve Smith, who easily broke the 80-run opening stand. Smith then claimed the wicket of Phillips four balls later.
Kennar Lewis put 17 on the board but became Irfan first victim, nicking one to Pooran. Tallawahs were now 100-3 from 12.5 overs. Of course, the five earlier dropped catches by the Tridents could have changed the course of the game on several occasions but it just was not their night in the field.
With 57 from 43 needed to seal the deal, the Tallawahs chance of victory remained high with the experience of Ross Taylor and destructive force of David Miller at the crease.
They of course navigated the challenge cautiously and executed their job beautifully up until the final over that was bowled by Raymon Reifer. The left-arm medium bowler presented a tight and full line which cost only six runs, to win a final over battle.
Earlier in the night, the Tridents were the first up to bat, and had a decent start going at nearly 10 runs per over, when Dwayne Smith was run out for 18 and the score dialed to 36 – 1, one ball short of the fifth over.
Hashim Amla (15) followed two balls later when he lobbed a catch to Adam Zampa at cover and now the two new batsmen were Martin Guptil and Steve Smith. Guptil was the next to make the highlight reel when Oshane Thomas bowled him with a full and fast delivery, dipping inwards. He departed without scoring and Tallwahs were certainly on top with the score reading 39 – 3, with the eighth over approaching.
However, Shai Hope and Smith’s staged a massive recovery as they featured in a 103-run fourth-wicket partnership that took the Bajan side to 142 before the next wicket fell.
Smith’s mastery took him to 63 from 44 deliveries while Hope had 43 after facing 35 balls. The Australian, adjudged man-of-the-match for his performance, struck five boundaries while Hope hit only two. However, both batsmen slammed three sixes each and ironically were both dismissed by Dre Russ.
Nicholas Pooran contributed a run-a-ball 7 while the skipper Jason Holder was run out on the final ball in his team’s scramble for runs in the 20th over.
Russell ended with 2 – 32 while Samuel Badree had 1 – 19 and Thomas 1 -27.
Johnson picked up five consecutive fours from Holder in an eventful string of deliveries, but Holder’s luck wasn’t all bad as he finished with a dot ball. He made no mistake of trying another over in the match.
Of course, the five earlier dropped catches by the Tridents could have changed the course of the game on several occasions but it just was not their night in the field.
