Jamaica Tallawahs 180 for 6 (Gayle 105, Benn 2-19) beat Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel 130 for 9 (Kallis 46, Santokie 3-27, Taylor 2-21, Vettori 2-22) by 50 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Chris Gayle continued his rich vein of form in Twenty20 cricket, blasting 105 off just 57 deliveries to set up Jamaica Tallawah’s 50-run victory against Trinidad & Tobago at Sabina Park. Gayle’s assault, his seventh 50-plus score in nine matches, also lifted the hosts up to second in the table, level on points with Barbados Tridents, who have played a game more, while Red Steel were left rooted at the bottom.
Gayle came into the match boasting scores of 92, 151*, 85*, 90*, 72* and 64* for Tallawahs and Somerset in the last couple of months, and he did not take long to get going on Thursday, swinging Jacques Kallis for six over long-on off just the fourth ball he faced. Gayle launched two more sixes in the next over, by Johan Botha, before carting three fours off an over from Dwayne Bravo as Tallawahs raced to 70 inside seven overs. Gayle’s opening partner Chadwick Walton contributed just 13 in that stand.
Suliemann Benn briefly halted the flow of runs, dismissing both Chris Lynn and Mahela Jayawardene in the 11th over, but Gayle continued to shred the Red Steel bowling, hitting a total of six fours and nine sixes to end with a strike-rate of 184.21. Gayle received ample support from Jermaine Blackwood, with who he added 68 for the fifth wicket off just 42 balls. Gayle eventually fell in the 19th over, but Blackwood’s 28-ball 38 took the team to 180 for 6, Tallawah’s highest of the season. It also meant that Gayle had accounted for more than half his team’s score.
Red Steel never really got going in the chase and lost wickets right from the off, with three top-order batsmen getting out for ducks. Kallis top-scored with 46, but received little by way of support from his team-mates, as Krishmar Santokie (3 for 27), Daniel Vettori (2 for 22) and Jerome Taylor (2 for 21) struck at regular intervals to keep the visitors to 130 for 9.
