KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Jamaica Tallawahs crumbled in the face of a daunting record run chase as they crashed to a 41-run loss to reigning champions Trinbago Knight Riders, to suffer their fourth straight defeat of the Caribbean Premier League here Friday night.
Chasing a CPL-record 268 at Sabina Park, Tallawahs were in the hunt when opener Glenn Phillips (62) and Chris Gayle (39) provided a sizzling start of 88 off 44 deliveries.
Once that partnership was broken, however, the innings lost the momentum required and a last ditch effort by Ramaal Lewis (37 not out) and Javelle Glen (34 not out) provided only fireworks but not the miracle needed.
Unbeaten TKR had earlier galloped to a massive 267 for two off their 20 overs – the highest-ever total in T20 franchise cricket and the third highest-ever across all T20s.
New Zealander Colin Munro provided the impetus with a superb unbeaten 96 off 50 balls while former West Indies opener Lendl Simmons slammed 86 off 42 balls to notch his second straight half-century.
Captain Kieron Pollard’s brutal 17-ball 45 not out intensified the assault on the Tallawah’s bowlers, as TKR plundered an amazing 171 runs off the last 10 overs of the innings.
The contest was marred by wretched outfielding by both sides, with as many as seven catches being spilled overall.
TKR have now won four matches on the trot to sit on top the standings on eight points while Tallawahs have yet to register a single win in their worst-ever start to a CPL campaign, and are rock bottom.
Sent in, TKR were given a handy start by Simmons and Sunil Narine (20), the pair posting 55 off 32 balls for the first wicket.
However, the innings only really kicked into gear after Narine missed a heave at 20-year-old left-arm spinner Zahir Khan and was bowled in the sixth over, bringing Simmons and Munro together in a devastating 124-run, second wicket stand.
Simmons belted eight fours and five sixes, reaching his half-century off 32 balls in the 12th over while Munro counted half-dozen fours and eight sixes as he romped to his maiden fifty of the campaign off just 22 balls.
Simmons lived a charmed life, dropped on 11 at the wicket off fast bowler Jerome Taylor in the fourth over and then caught at mid-on off a no-ball a couple of balls later when on 17.
He was then twice put down in the 10th over off Lewis’s leg-spin, first on 40 and then on 41, and appeared to be riding his luck to three figures when he was run out in the 15th over, chasing a third run off a free hit.
Pollard then arrived to blast four fours and three sixes, posting 88 in a rollicking unbroken third wicket stand with Munro.
Faced with a stiff required run rate of nearly 13-½ an over, Tallawahs started positively with Phillips and Gayle launching a fierce assault in the power-play.
While Phillips struck seven fours and four sixes off 32 balls, the left-handed Gayle punched five fours and two sixes in a 24-ball knock.
The innings was bouncing along at 12 runs per over when Gayle missed a wild slog at impressive 19-year-old Pakistan pacer Mohammad Hasnain and had his stumps rattled in the eighth over, and his dismissal put in train Tallawahs’ decline.
In the same over, Chadwick Walton (6) top-edged to the wicketkeeper and in the very next over from left-arm spinner Khary Pierre, new batsman Rovman Powell smashed the second ball he faced for six over long on before falling to the ground clutching his rib cage and then being stretchered off.
Phillips, dropped twice on 37 in the fifth over from pacer Jimmy Neesham, then picked out Munro in the deep off Pollard’s slow medium in the 12th over, one of three wickets to fall as the hosts stalled at 163 for five in the 16th over.
With 105 runs needed off 29 balls and the required run rate having risen to over 22, Tallawahs were all but buried but Lewis and Glenn blasted 63 in an unbroken sixth wicket stand to save face.