Alex hales blistering registered Jamaica Tallawahs (JT) to the playoffs of the CPL. They defeated St Lucia Kings (SLK) by a huge margin of 122 runs.
JT scored 201/5 in 20 overs and in reply SLK only put 79/10 in 15 overs.
It was a must wining match for Jamaica to reach the playoffs as they already won their previous encounter with St Kitts and Nevis Patriots by 59 runs by Springer all round show. Whereas Kings already registered their seat to the playoffs by winning their last match against Guyana Amazon Warriors by 7 wickets by Rajapaksa brilliant knock.
After winning the toss, Kings opted to bowl first.
Alex Hales (119 runs) was looking aggressive from the beginning. It can be easily sensed that the first wicket fell of Kirk McKenzie at the score of 44 runs in which McKenzie only contributed with 3 runs. It was Hales first century in the CPL. He took 57 balls to reach that score and hit 12 fours and 7 sixes.
In the end skipper Imad Wasim (41 runs) also showed his hands with the bat and hit 3 fours and 3 sixes to his knock. Finally they posted 201 runs in 20 overs by losing 5 wickets.
Hales showed his power to every bowler he faced. Roston Chase took 2 wickets while Matthew Forde and Alzarri Joseph got 1 wicket each.
Kings were looking helpless in front of the Tallawahs bowlers. None of them provided a solid innings. Partnerships were also small. Bhanuka Rajapaksa (22 runs) was the highest scorer from their side. In the end they only managed 79 runs in 15 overs and lost all their wickets.
Chris Green just russelled up the whole SLK and grabbed 4 wickets by giving away only 15 runs in his 4 over spell. The two Pakistani players – Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim took 2 wickets each. Hayden Walsh got 1 wicket.
With this victory Jamaica are at 4th with 9 points having a positive net run rate (0.788). And Barbados needed a huge victory for them to reach the playoffs, which is quite impossible to make it. Whereas Kings are comfortable at 3rd spot with 10 points.
Alex Hales, JT, Player of the Match
“If I had the answer on what was different today, I’d be a lot more consistent. I was a lot more postove today, connecting them off the middle and had a little bit of luck as well. Match-ups are important. There was a small boundary and two offies bowling so I gave myself a good chance to score. Imad Wasim is getting better each year. One of the best all rounders in the current game. There were a few group games where we were timid, but now we have got our chest out playing positively. They have a good team and they’ll be a threat in the playoffs.”