Shakib, Gayle steer Jamaica home after horror start
Fighting a back injury and having watched a horror start from the Jamaica Tallawahs, skipper Chris Gayle, took it up to him to guide his team to a remarkable five-wicket victory over the rampant Guyana Amazon Warriors on Friday.
The victory took the Tallawahs to second spot in the table, with seven points from five games. The Warriors continue to stay at the top, with 10 points from seven games.
It wasn’t an all-Gayle show though. Shakib Al Hasan, their Bangladeshi import, was the rock around the chase, finishing with an unbeaten 47-ball 54 - his maiden half-century of the tournament, having come into bat with his team in dire straits. He endured a couple of nervy moments but held his poise to guide his team to the winning post.
Chasing a modest 129 for victory, the Tallawahs were soon reduced to 2 for 4, with Andre McCarthy, Kumar Sangakkara and Rovman Powell falling for ducks. Wicketkeeper-batsman, Chadwick Walton, who was promoted to open the innings, was the only run-getter amongst the top-four batsmen, but it was his dismissal which had opened the floodgates.
With Gayle unable to bat until the fall of the fifth wicket, it was left to seasoned campaigners, Shakib Al Hasan and Andre Russell, to stem the rot.
The duo added a brisk 23-ball 43-run stand to haul their team back into the contest. While Shakib bided his time and was a touch lucky to be dropped by Dwayne Smith at first slip on 4, Russell took the attack to the Warriors, taking a particular liking to pace bowler, Ali Khan.
His stay was short-lived though, as Zampa pulled off a sharp catch at square leg off Veerasamy Permaul to send the dashing allrounder back for a 15-ball 24.
Gayle’s arrival was greeted with deafening noise at the Sabina Park and he didn’t disappoint his loyal supporters. Handicapped with the injury which clearly affected his running, Gayle dug into Permaul, depositing the left-arm spinner for two sixes and a four in the seventh over of the innings. With the run-rate well under control, it was all about batting sensibly from there on.
The duo added 87 runs in an the unbeaten fifth wicket stand as the hosts romped home with more than four overs to spare.
Earlier, the Warriors recovered from a poor start of their own, but a final total of 128 didn’t look adequate on a true Sabina Park surface. Playing in his last Caribbean Premier League (CPL) match of the season, skipper Martin Guptill capped off a modest tournament with a seven-ball duck, caught at the wicket off Dale Steyn.
Chris Lynn, arguably Warriors’ best bat of the tournament, continued his good run, but once again failed to make the most of his start, and was dismissed after a quickfire 18-ball 33. Dwayne Smith had fallen cheaply earlier and at 55 for 3 in the ninth over, the stuttering innings needed a calm head.
The Warriors found it in Jason Mohammad, although the right-hander could never switch into top gear throughout the course of his 51-ball unbeaten 46. The Tallawahs kept it very tight, with Pakistan left-arm spinner, Imad Wasim, finishing with impressive figures of 2 for 12 from his four overs.
The Warriors never gained momentum at any stage, losing wickets at inopportune times and finishing with a below-par score. It looked more than enough at one stage of the Tallawahs chase, but Gayle and Shakib ensured that the home crowd went home happy with a five-wicket win.
Brief Scores: Guyana Amazon Warriors 128/6 in 20 overs (Jason Mohammad 46*, Imad Wasim 2/12) lost to Jamaica Tallawahs 132/5 in 15.5 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 54*, Chris Gayle 45*, Sohail Tanvir 2/14) by 5 wickets.
