Tallawahs aim to halt Knight Riders’ charge

The Jamaica Tallawahs will today aim to do what they have not done since 2018, and that is to beat the Trinbago Knight Riders, who are unbeaten so far this year and continue their march up the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) table.

With four matches to play in the preliminary round, the Tallawahs are currently fourth in the CPL table on six points, the same as the Guyana Amazon Warriors, who are in the third spot by virtue of a superior net run rate.

The Knight Riders have played all their cards correctly thus far in the tournament, winning all six of their encounters, and win number seven could be on the cards if the frail Tallawahs batting unit turns up at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.

Russell’s PLACE

Once again, it will be a late call to decide if inspirational all-rounder Andre Russell will take his place in the line-up, as the man dubbed ‘Dangerruss’ try to shake off a troublesome knee injury that started to flare up from as early as the second game in the tournament.

Tallawahs captain Rovman Powell hinted after their win against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, that Russell was keen to go, and that his inclusion will be a welcome one for a Tallawahs’ batting unit that has struggled miserably in their games so far.

Only wicketkeeper batsman Glenn Phillips has shown his true talent with the bat, amassing 207 runs in six innings with a top score of 79 not out. Russell is the only other batter in the Tallawahs squad that has passed 50 this season and Powell says the team has devised a plan to get over their batting hiccup.

“We sat and talked about having someone in the top four or the top five batting all 20 overs and we also talked about the power play where we don’t want to be three wickets down. We want to try to reach 10 overs with two wickets down, then we can load up with our power hitters coming in and playing their natural game,” said Powell, after their win against the Patriots.

The Tallawahs bowling unit has been more than holding their own, with two of their spinners in the top 10 wicket-takers in the competition thus far.

Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman is the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 13 scalps in six games, while Nepalese spinner Sandeep Lamichhane has taken nine wickets in the six matches he has played.

The first ball is 9:00 a.m. Jamaica time, after which the second game of the day’s double-header will see the Barbados Tridents squaring off with the Guyana Amazon Warriors at 4:30 p.m.