Nayak apologises for the defeats
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Jamaica Tallawahs opened their bid for the 2016 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title with a five-run win over the St. Kitts-Nevis Patriots at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium yesterday (Jul. 2).
Winning the toss under overcast skies, the home team decided to bowl first and Chris Gayle took a liking to the bowlers on a flat batting surface.
He blasted a quick-fire half century to guide the Tallawahs to a below par 152/7 off their allotted 20 overs with Tabraiz Shamsi being the pick of the Patriots bowlers, grabbing 2 for 17 and Thisara Perera 2 for 28 from their four overs.
In reply, the Patriots could only amass 148 for 7 off their allotted overs with Lendell Simmons top scoring with 29. They crashing to their second defeat in as many games.
In their first match, they went under to the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Thursday evening (Jun. 30) by six-wickets at the same venue.
Assistant coach of the Jamaica Tallawahs Mark O’ Donnell credited Chris Gayle’s batting performance as the leader of the team while paving the way for Andre Russell to finish off the innings with a flurry of boundaries that push them up to a somewhat competitive total
“This is a world class pro and he showed that tonight; great maturity and a 50 on that wicket which should have been an 80 or 90.”
Further, the coach indicated that he knew if they did not bowl well there was a possibility that the Patriots could have overhauled the somewhat below par total on a good batting track.
He disclosed that the team members believed they were about 15 to 20 runs short of what would have been a competitive scored on the playing surface.
“It was a decent pitch and we have been watching it on TV for the last couple of days. And the new ball is a bit easier, but when it gets older then it grips and you can pull your lengths back. The pitches in the Caribbean have been like this for the last couple of years…”
After the game, owner of the Patriots franchise, Mohammad Uday Nayak told reporters that he believed both matches should have been won by his team. But looking ahead to the two remaining homes games, he is optimistic that the unit could do well to progress to the Finals.
“For a time I thought that we were going to lose it early, but we came back. We lost the games but there is no excuse for that and we are hoping that we can recover from this and win the next two games.”
Nayak apologised for the defeat, noting that the Patriots have a good group of players who have to start working together as a team and that would push the franchise over the line.
He expressed optimism that the team can go a far way in the tournament which would see the Semi-Finals and Finals being played in the Federation in August.
I think we have potential to show in this tournament and we will work towards that... and I am sorry that we have not been able to win these two home games.”
“We have to work as a unit and everything will be going in the right direction. We just have to play. It is just one of those things that are on the day of the game. We are a good unit and we have a very good group of guys.”
The team comes up against the Barbados Tridents from 16:00pm today, where they will be looking to turn their fortunes around before another large crowd at Warner Park.
Patriots currently sit at the bottom of the six-team points table.
