CPL 2017, Match 15, JT vs GAW, Review: Tallawahs beat Warriors by 2 runs in a nail-biting encounter

Caribbean Premier League (CPL) was at its best and fans witnessed another close encounter albeit a low scoring one in which Kesrick Williams held his nerves and defended 8 off the final over. By the virtue of this win, Tallawahs registered their fourth consecutive win and Warriors lost their 4th in five matches languishing at the bottom half of the table.

Both the teams went into the game with a confidence boosting victory over St. Lucia Stars. Warriors captain Guptill won the toss on their home ground and invited the opposition to bat first. The Jamaican team included Krishmar Santokie in place of Odean Smith whereas Guyana too made one change and gave an opportunity to Steven Jacobs ahead of Keemo Paul.

Simmons and Glenn Phillips opened the innings for Tallawahs and put on a 30-run stand on a slow wicket before the wily Rashid Khan shattered Simmons’ stumps with a googly. Soon, Jacobs broke the back of the batting order by dismissing the in form McCarthy and the skipper Sangakkara. Tallawahs now were reeling at 63/3 after 12 overs and needed a decent partnership to get to a fighting total

Phillips and Foo rebuild the innings briskly

Phillips was holding the innings together but the struggling Rovman Powell too was dismissed by Emrit in the 15th over. Jonathan Foo joined the opener and suddenly they gathered the much-needed momentum. Phillips completed his valiant half-century with 4 boundaries and a couple of maximums in the 18th over. In the same over, Rashid was taken to the cleaners by Foo as he scored 14 runs.

Both Foo and Phillips were dismissed before the final over and tailenders could not manage to score quick runs. But the fifth wicket stand of 33 gave Tallawahs a below par but a fighting total. Warriors bowlers were up to the mark as Tanvir went for 14 in 4 overs and picked up the crucial wicket of Phillps. Rashid, Emrit and Jacobs took two wickets each and kept the opposition in check.

The run chase

The opening duo of Chadwick Walton and Martin Guptill started the chase cautiously which made sure there were no hiccups at the start. They put on a solid stand of 67 up front to lay the foundation. Walton was aggressive amongst the two and scored 37 off 33 balls before being outdone by the slower delivery of Kesrick Williams. Soon Guptill followed for an uncharacteristic 33 off 41 deliveries. But Guyana had wickets in hand and the chase looked hardly out of control.

Babar Azam and Jason Mohammed came together and continued their work making sure they were batting the opposition out of the match. But Tallawahs stayed in it right through by bowling cleverly and according to their fields set by their skipper Sangakkara.

The twist

Warriors decided to take the game with wickets in hand and now they needed 16 off the final two overs. Surely from here the odds were in favour of the batting side with plenty of batting left. Sami took the ball in hand and didn’t concede a boundary and left 8 for Williams to defend. Williams conceded 4 of the first three deliveries and kept Warriors at bay. This is where the nerves caught up with the batsman and he swung wildly at a delivery which went straight to long on.

The pressure got better of the chasing side in the end as Williams easily defended 3 off the final ball as the new batsman hit the ball straight into the hands of deep midwicket. Williams kept his calm and believed in himself and did what no one had thought of.

Warriors were left awestruck as they had the chase in control till the last over. They could score only a solitary six in last 6 overs and were left wondering of their own tactics.

Brief Scores:

Jamaica Tallawahs 128/7 in 20 overs (G Phillips 51 (47b, 4×4, 2×6); Jonathan Foo 20 (12b, 2×4, 1×6); Steven Jacobs 2/18, Rayad Emrit 2/24)

Guyana Amazon Warriors 126/4 in 20 overs (C Walton 37 (33b, 3×4); M Guptill 33 (41b, 2×4); Kesrick Williams 3/30, Garey Mathurin 1/29)

Jamaica Tallawahs won by 2 runs