Alick Athanaze the young lad from Dominica scored a match winning knock as Barbados Royals (BR) defeated Jamaica Tallawahs by 6 wickets. JT scored 160/7 runs in 20 overs which BR chased down in 19 overs and scored 161/4 runs.
Just a day before, Royals were crushed heavily by Guptill’s superb century for Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) and this win will certainly raise the momentum for the players. Whereas it was Tallawahs back to back loss in the CPL, last they were defeated by Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) by 34 runs.
Barbados Captain Rovman Powell after winning the toss elected to field first.
Once again Jamaica fails to get a good start as their key opener and Captain Brandon King (1 run) returns to the pavilion early. At one point they were struggling as they lost 3 wickets in the span of 23 runs. Alex Hales who was playing his first match in this CPL was unable to provide some magic and scored only 12 runs.
Shamarh Brooks the keeper batter from his side played a brilliant knock of 78 runs in 41 balls. With his valuable innings Tallawahs were able to set some strong targets. He also hits 7 fours and 4 sixes in his innings. He was well supported by Imad Wasim (33 runs) who batted till the end and was the last man who got dismissed.
Raymon Reifer tried to build partnership with Brooks but he was little slow and took 20 balls to score 16 runs and due to which he departed early on. At the end Royals made 160 runs in 20 overs with the loss of 7 wickets.
Jason Holder and Qais Ahmed took 2 wickets each while Kyle Mayers and Van der Merwe got 1 wicket each.
Royals also got a poor start as they lost both of their openers in just 25 runs. Kyle Mayers wasn’t able to connect the balls of Amir and Green and at last Green dodged him. Mayers made 4 runs and took 14 balls. Rahkeem Cornwall (17 runs) also fails to show some spark.
After that a great partnership built between Alick Athanaze and Laurie Evans of 89 runs. Alick made brilliant 76 runs for which he took 48 balls. He showed great maturity with his early age and played a match winning knock. He also hits 7 boundaries and 3 sixes. Evans (30 runs) on the other hand also showed great maturity as he took the singles and gave the strike to Alick.
At last with Holder’s boundary BR wins the match easily by 6 wickets. They scored 161 runs in 19 overs with the loss of 4 wickets.
Chris Green was able to pick 2 wickets while Salman Irshad and Imad Wasim got 1 wicket each.
With this win Barbados Royals is still at 5th position with 2 wins in 5 matches having 5 points whereas Jamaica Tallawahs are at 4th position and having the same points as BR but had a better net rate than them.
Alick Athanaze, BR, Player of the Match
“It was pretty special, good to get the team over the line after a loss. Pitch was slow initially but got better. Past two games I haven’t been giving myself some time, so I wanted to make sure I did that right.”
Brandon King, JT Captain
“Part of the tournament (successive losses). We will look for areas to improve. Batting at the top is one area too and I will take responsibility. Excellent innings from Brooks, put us in a good position. I think it’s just about altering our mindset to get back to winning ways.”
Rovman Powell, BR Captain
“I’m struggling (his injured leg). Hopefully after tonight it will settle down, but unfortunately time is not on our side. Conversation was brief and short after the last game. We are not bad cricketers after one game. We believe in the guys and one of them can do it with the bat. We believe in the guys and one of them can do it with the bat.
Good to see three wickets in the powerplay. Fantastic innings from Athanaze. On a wicket like this, which is slow, you need someone to get 70+. Very good future for him. Has already played three formats. It’s important that West Indies look at him and start managing him from now. Hopefully we harness that talent. Credit to the guys for bouncing back after the last game.”