Jamaica Tallawahs (159-1) beat St Lucia Zouks (158-4) by nine wickets with 24 balls remaining
Tuesday 7th July – Kingston, Jamaica: The Appleton Estate Jamaica Tallawahs eased to victory over the St Lucia Zouks in the Hero Caribbean Premier League thanks to yet another innings of note from Chris Gayle. The Tallawahs captain combined with Chadwick Walton to reach the required target of 159 with four overs to spare.
The Zouks would have been very confident of defending their total that was set up by a brilliant innings of 83 from Kevin Pietersen as the St Lucian side recovered well from the loss of three early wickets. Gayle had other ideas.
Krishmar Santokie, the leading wicket taker in CPL history, was at it again in the Zouks Powerplay as he removed the in-form opening pair of Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher. Charles was dismissed when he missed a full ball that bowled him. Fletcher was brilliantly stumped by Chadwick Walton.
The Zouks were in further trouble when Ross Taylor spooned a catch to Chris Lynn at mid-wicket off Jerome Taylor to leave them reeling at 30-3 at the end of the first six overs. Kevin Pietersen combined with Henry Davids in a stand worth 52 runs to rebuild the Zouks innings.
The partnership was broken when Davids played a ramp shot only for the ball to catch a leading edge, the ball ballooning to point. Mahela Jayawardene had so long to take the chance that the bowler, Andre Russell, was already celebrating the wicket before it was taken.
Pietersen stood firm to record his second half century in two innings, making 83 off 57 balls as he was the only batsman for the Zouks that came to terms with a Sabina Park pitch that was a bit two-paced. He was joined by his captain, Darren Sammy, at the end of the innings as the St Lucian all-rounder hit two sixes on his way to 29 (23).
Pietersen could have departed on 42 when Walton failed to collect a sharp chance high to his right and the Englishman made the most of his good fortune as he recorded his highest CPL score. The partnership with Pietersen and Sammy saw the captain and star batsman push the Zouks to 158-4.
Sammy couldn’t make it all the way to the end of the innings, a blow on the glove from a Russell short ball meaning he had to retire hurt during the 20th over. Pietersen finished the innings off in style with three more boundaries to leave the Tallawahs needing 159 to win.
The Zouks would have been pleased with their batting efforts but Chris Gayle went about showing the visitors how to score runs at Sabina Park. He scored 64 (42) as he made his third match winning half century of this year’s CPL and his second against the Zouks. But for once the Jamaican captain was playing second fiddle at the top of the order.
Chadwick Walton was in brutal form scoring 76 runs in 48 balls as the Zouks found it impossible to make any inroads into this Tallawahs batting line-up. The last time these two teams met the Tallawahs won by 10 wickets and it was a very similar result here.
The only moment of success for the Zouks came when Walton tried to play a front foot pull shot but found the top edge off the bowling of Fidel Edwards to be caught by Kemar Roach. The breakthrough could have come earlier when Gayle skied a ball when on 28 but it went so high in the air that it swirled on the way down and Sammy couldn’t take the catch.
When Walton departed Gayle took up the boundary hitting mantel as he smashed 32 runs off the last seven balls he faced to take his side home with ease. This innings by Gayle is just the latest in a remarkable sequence of T20 scores that has seen him make 571 runs in eight innings at an average of 190 becoming the first man to make 8000 T20 runs in the process.
This is the highest successful chase at Sabina Park in the CPL and the Tallawahs did it with ease as Gayle once again showed his importance to this side – if he succeeds his team wins.
This victory keeps the Tallawahs in touch with the early leaders. The Zouks remain in second place but the Tallawahs are now only one point behind them.
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