Jamaica Tallawahs vs Barbados Royals
A nail-biting fixture where the top two teams on the table were to lock horns against each other. The Barbados Royals, being the best side of this season winning all their six matches including one against the Jamaica Tallawahs who were keen on breaking their winning streak.
The Tallawahs’ captain Rovman Powell won the toss and chose to bowl first. He wanted to make use of the unpleasant weather to put pressure on the strong batting line-up of the Royals, to perform under these conditions. Kyle Mayers and Rahkeem Cornwall were the openers at the crease for the Royals while Mohammad Amir started the bowling attack for the Tallawahs. An almost perfect start to the first over saw Amir concede just 1 run in the first over. Amir and Chris Green kept up the pressure until Imad Wasim produced a wonderful wicket-maiden during the 4th over, putting more pressure on the Royals’ batsmen. With Green continuing to bowl tight at one end and a brilliant over from Wasim - a Double-Wicket maiden in the 6th, put Royals in trouble at 17 for 3 by the end of the powerplay. From that point the Royals slowly started picking up pace with the help of Quinton de Kock who held his ground despite losing Azam Khan. When Royals Captain and fellow South African David Miller came in, he and de Kock put together a good partnership. The in-form de Kock’s knock of 74 runs in 43 balls which included 7 sixes and 3 fours and David Miller’s supporting role of 34 runs off 27 balls helped raise the total score of the team. Both were then dismissed by Nicholson Gordon who was involved in a catch and a wicket of his own bowling. Royals had scored a total of 146/6 by the end of their innings. It was an unusual innings from the Royals as they scored only 17 runs during the powerplay and ended up scoring more after that. A target of 147 was set for the Tallawahs to win.
Opening batsmen Brandon King and Amir Jangoo stepped onto the pitch to start the chase for the Tallawahs. They had started their innings very well with a whopping 45 runs scored during the first 4 overs. Jangoo was on a high scoring 29 runs off 18 balls with a strike rate of 161 before being dismissed by Obed McCoy. King then built a good partnership with Shamarh Brooks and by the end of the powerplay were 59 for 1. The two batsmen continued till the 10th over, when rain stopped play. After a short break, play resumed with no overs lost. Unfortunately, Brooks fell just 3 balls after play resumed. King fell 2 overs later followed by Raymon Reifer in the same over. After losing some quick wickets, Fabian Allen and Captain Rovman Powell had a hard task with the rain interrupting play regularly. Allen soon lost his wicket with the Tallawahs still needing 31 runs off 23 balls. Imad Wasim who had a great day with the ball, needed to perform with the bat as well. Powell, who till that point had scored 5 runs off 16 balls, scored his first six in the 4th ball of the over and by the end of the 17th over, Tallawahs were 126 for 5. Rain again stalled the game with the Tallawahs 6 runs ahead of DLS score. As the rain showed no sign of stopping, the decision was taken to conclude the match. This meant the Tallawahs, who were 6 runs ahead of the DLS score, had won the match with the 6 hit by Captain Powell proving to be decisive. Imad Wasim was declared man of the match due to his spectacular performance with the ball for the Tallawahs, with 2 maidens and 3 wickets giving away just 14 runs with an economy of just 4.7 in his 3-over spell.
This win for the Tallawahs gives them the crucial 2 points that will aid them in their race to the playoffs. Jamaica Tallawahs will be looking forward to win their next match when they face the Trinbago Knight Riders.