Momentum is key – Powell

AFTER THE opening week of action in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in St. Kitts, the T20 show makes its way to St Lucia for another round of matches, which gets under way today with two games.

In the second game of a double-header starting at 6 p.m. (Jamaica time) at the Darren Sammy Stadium in Gros Islet, the Rovman Powell-led Jamaica Tallawahs will put their two-game unbeaten run on the line when they face the winless hosts, St Lucia Kings, who are led by South African batsman Faf du Plessis.

After comfortably getting the better of St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in their opening fixture, Powell had to dig deep into his batting repertoire to conjure up a match-winning performance against the Guyana Amazon Warriors in their second game.

Those two wins see the Tallawahs sitting pretty atop of the CPL standings on four points, with a healthy net run rate of 1.338.

Powell wants his Jamaican side to accept winning as a habit and ride the current wave, which he believes will serve the team well heading into the back end of the competition.

“It’s a very short competition so momentum becomes very important,” the attacking right-handed batsman said. “It’s good to start well and hopefully in the middle of the competition we can take that momentum and push it.”

That good start by the Tallawahs has come about, thanks largely to all-around efforts with both bat and ball, with opener Brandon King leading the run-scoring so far with 121 runs in two innings, with a top score of 89.

The seam bowlers have also led from the front, with Mohammed Amir, Migael Pretorius and Nicholson Gordon all taking four wickets apiece.

In the meantime, the Kings, despite losing their two encounters to date, will be buoyed by the return to their home ground with du Plessis hoping that the team be inspired to turn things around and get their first win.

“It is early on in the tournament, so it is more about ironing out our mistakes. There were a few areas (where) we made mistakes,” du Plessis admitted. “Hopefully we can do better.”

The Kings will be hoping that Alzarri Joseph can continue his good form with both bat and ball.

He currently leads the bowling standings with six wickets and also tops the team’s batting with 38 runs in two innings.

Much is also expected from overseas player David Weise and Trinidadian Mark Deyal, who led the team in the absence of du Plessis.

In the opening match of the double-header, second-placed Barbados Royals will face third-placed Trinbago Knight Riders, starting at 9 a.m. (Jamaica time).