Eliminator - Saint Lucia Kings vs Jamaica Tallawahs
With the Royals already securing a spot in finals by beating the Warriors, all eyes were on the Eliminator fixture between the Jamaica Tallawahs and the Saint Lucia Kings. Both teams were looking to win and face the Warriors in the 2nd qualifier.
It was time for the toss. Captain of the Kings, Faf du Plessis won the toss and chose to field first. Faf made it clear that he wanted to chase considering the good wicket condition and the dew factor. Tallawahs captain Rovman Powell was confident of winning this game and moving forward despite not tasting a win in the past three matches.
Tallawahs openers Brandon King and Kennar Lewis were at the crease against Matthew Forde who led the bowling attack for the Kings. Tallawahs openers struggled initially as the first boundary of the innings came only at the end of the 3rd over. The following over started off well with Lewis hitting a six over deep mid-wicket region. Unfortunately a couple of balls later, Alzarri Joseph picked up King’s wicket with an LBW dismissal, which had to be reviewed by Joseph and his team after the initial decision had gone against them. In the 5th over, the Tallawahs lost their other opener Lewis for an LBW. Fresh onto the crease, Shamarh Brooks went for an elegant shot to see the ball cross the boundary for a four and end the powerplay at 29/2. Tallawahs captain Powell undertook the supporting role when Brooks occasionally went in for the big shots. The Tallawahs lost their captain in the 9th over during Jeavor Royal’s first over of the innings. It was yet another LBW dismissal as a mistimed sweep shot from the captain got him to leave after scoring 7 runs. This was a huge setback for the Tallawahs as they scored just 52 runs for the loss of 3 wickets, halfway through the innings. Right after the drinks break, Brooks went after the bowlers with Raymon Reifer by his side. They managed to put up a 50-run partnership in just 32 balls and Tallawahs were looking set now to put up a good total. However, David Wiese during the 15th over managed to pick both the wickets of Brooks, whose knock of 47 runs from 31 balls had helped Tallawahs stabilize their innings and Fabian Allen. Mohammad Nabi stood at one end as wickets kept falling at the other and it looked like the Kings would restrict the Tallawahs to a low score as they were just 116 for 8 by the end of the 18th over. The experienced Nabi though finished well, taking on Kesrick Williams in the final over, hitting 3 sixes and scoring 19 runs, making sure the Tallawahs would complete their innings with a competitive score of 148/8.
With a target of 149, Kings began their chase with Johnson Charles and Faf du Plessis. They had a good start before Mohammad Amir, who led the bowling attack for the Tallawahs, bowled out Johnson Charles with a peach of a delivery as the ball swung in and knocked out the middle stump in the 3rd over. Faf was playing some good shots, while Niroshan Dickwella, new to the crease was taking it slow with just one six under his name. He got caught out by Reifer when a mistimed sweep shot ended up hitting the top edge from Wasim’s delivery in the 5th over. At the end of the powerplay, Kings were at 54/2 with Faf looking strong at one end. Roston Chase became Wasim’s second victim in the 6th over as he was caught by a good forward diving catch by Nabi. Faf was the key for the Kings as he was flying until the 8th over when he was bowled out by Allen, a good length ball kept low, missing Faf’s pull shot and deflected off of his shoe to hit the stumps. Faf’s dismissal was a huge breakthrough for the Tallawahs. Halfway through the innings, the match was balanced at 74/4, with the Kings needing 75 to win from 60 balls. After the drinks break, the Kings lost 3 quick wickets in the next 2 overs, Nabi picking 1 and Allen 2 more of his last 2 balls of his spell, which included the big wicket of David Wiese. With Kings now at 81 for 7, the lower-order batsmen could not make much of an impact. Joseph at the end tried to put up a fight but that was just not enough for the Kings. They were all out for 115 by the end of the 18th over with Amir wrapping up the innings.
This meant that the Tallawahs went through to the 2nd Qualifier to face the Warriors tomorrow. Nabi’s brilliant all-around performance with the bat and the ball earned him the Man of the Match. Tallawah’s captain Powell credited all the bowlers for their sensational performances.
A relentless performance from the Tallawahs got them their deserving win against the Kings. Tallawahs will now look to sustain this momentum as they head to tomorrow’s crucial Qualifier 2 match against the Warriors and the winner of this fixture gets a shot at the title in the final vs Barbados Royals.