Brandon King’s fantastic innings helped Jamaica Tallawahs (JT) to get the victory in the 1st match of Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2023 over St Lucia Kings (SLK).
King continues his great performance. His great knock against India in the 5th T20 helped his team to get the par score easily.
Firstly Faf du Plessis, captain of SLK won the toss and he opted to bowl. Brandon King and Kirk Mckenzie gave a good start to their team and they scored 44 runs for the 1st wicket. Roston Chase took the wicket of Mckenzie and broke the partnership. McKenzie scores 20 runs. (44-1). Then Chase in his next over gets the wicket of Shamarh Brooks. Brooks only made 12 runs. (62-2).
In the next over, Alzarri Joseph got the wicket of the new batsman Amir Jangoo who was only able to play 2 balls and got out on a duck. (63-3). SLK was looking in command. But then King and Reifer put 77 more runs to the scoreboard but Chase again came and he got the wicket of Reifer. Reifer patience innings come to an end. He made 16 runs in 18 balls. (140-4).
Fabian Allen came but destructive innings came to an end when he got run out by Joseph. Allen made 15 runs in 6 balls. (156-5). After that the highest scorer of the match, King got out in the 18th over, when Chris Sole got his wicket. JT skipper showed a solid knock and made 81 runs which includes 9 fours and 3 sixes. (170-6).
In the next over, Joseph gets the wicket of Chris Green. Green made 6 runs. (181-7). In the last over, Mohd Amir got run out on the first ball he faced. (186-8). In the next delivery Gordon got run out and he wasn’t able to face any delivery. (187-9). Then in the last ball, Imad Wasim gets out and Forde gets the credit for his dismissal. (187-10). Salman Irshad remained not out at zero.
JT made 187 runs with the loss of 10 wickets in 20 overs.
Roston Chase was the highest wicket taker from his side and grabbed 3 important wickets. Alzarri Joseph got 2 wickets while Forde and Sole got 1 wicket each.
After that SLK didn’t get a good start as they lost the wicket of their skipper in the 4th over. Imad Wasim knocked him out. du Plessis only managed to score 9 runs. (25-1). Then Johnson Charles scores the highest total runs scored by a batsman in the CPL but unfortunately he couldn’t make this moment memorable as Chris Green gets him. Charles scored 24 runs. (57-2).
Then Roston Chase and Sean Williams tried to stabilize the team and they put up 33 runs for the 3rd wicket. But again this partnership doesn’t go further as Chris Green gets the wicket of Williams. Williams scored 26 runs in 22 balls. (90-3). Then Wasim gets the wicket of Sikander Raza. Raza was looking uncomfortable in the previous over and Imad Wasim uses this pressure and gets him. Raza made only 4 runs. (104-4).
Then in the very next ball, Wasim gets the wicket of Kimani Melius. He goes out on a golden duck. (104-5). After that Roshon Primus along with Chase put on 61 runs for the 6th wicket. But as they approached the victory, Primus got run out by Amir and the destructive innings ended. He scored 37 runs in 20 balls which includes 4 fours and 2 sixes.(165-6).
Chase also gets out in the last over after scoring a brilliant knock of 53 runs in 31 balls including 4 fours and 3 sixes. Salman Irshad gets the credit for his dismissal. (169-7). Then Forde after hitting a boundary gets bowled by Salman Irshad. Forde made 4 runs. (170-8). Alzarri Joseph (6 runs) and Peter Hatzoglou (1 runs) remained not out at the end.
SLK in 20 overs made 176 runs with the loss of 8 wickets.
Imad Wasim clinched 3 useful wickets while Irshad and Green claimed 2 wickets each.
Brandon King, Jamaica Tallawahs (JT), Player of the Match,
“I am really pleased to get the win. Really important innings to help the team win the game. Like they say, you are as good as your last game, it is good to have some consistency. It all comes naturally, reacting to the ball and playing accordingly to the situation.
Mckenzie has played recently for the West Indies Test team and has a lot of potential. This was a new experience for me. But credit to the bowlers as they made my job easier. I have an important role to play at the top of the innings and my job is to add partnerships and build the innings. We have experienced bowlers and they know what they want to do.
I wasn’t worried but it did come too close to my liking, but Salman was very clear in his mind on what he wanted to do and they calmed me down.”