KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo topped the aggregates in the just concluded Hero Caribbean Premier League, though their respective franchises experienced contrasting fates.
The left-handed Gayle, who led Jamaica Tallawahs, finished with 430 runs at an average of 61.50 and a strike rate of 160, hammering a highest score of 105, along with three half-centuries.
He was ahead of St Lucia Zouks’ Andre Fletcher who carved out 369 runs while Marlon Samuels, the influential St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, was third in the aggregates with 325 runs.
Only three other batsmen made it into the 300-run club. Guyana Amazon Warriors’ Lendl Simmons managed 317 runs, Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel’s Jacques Kallis got 304 while Kieron Pollard, the Barbados Tridents’ talismanic captain, scored 303 runs.
Gayle was by far the leading run-scorer for Tallawahs and was just one of two players to get over 200 runs. Chadwick Walton scored 243.
Tallawahs, the 2013 champions, were knocked out by Red Steel in the first semi-final, after finishing fourth in the preliminary round.
Bravo, meanwhile, was outstanding with the ball as he propelled Red Steel to their first CPL title. He finished the tournament with 28 wickets at an average of 11 and an economy rate of seven.
Tallawahs left-arm seamer Krishmar Santokie picked up 16 wickets while Amazon Warriors off-spinner Sunil Narine snared 14 wickets.
Bravo, the Red Steel skipper, was at his most brilliant in the first semi-final against Tallawahs, picking up a regional T20 career-best five for 23, to earn his side a 27-run win at Queen’s Park Oval.
He picked up two for 19 from three overs in the second semi-final Red Steel captured by six wickets but went wicket-less in the final last Sunday as the hosts pulled off a 20-run win.