CPL: Red Steel beat the Tallawahs

The Trinidad & Tobago Red Steels recorded their third consecutive victory in row, beating Jamaica Tallawahs by 7 runs. Batting first the Red Steels made 145 for 3, with Kallis top scoring with 61 not out. Dwayne Bravo made 49 from 30 balls, his highest score in this year of CPL while Perkins, Kamran Akmal and Darren Bravo all fell cheaply.

Perkins was first to go LBW  for 10 to Jerome Taylor when the score was on 34. Akmal was run out from a direct hit and Rusty Theron took a superb catch to remove Bravo off Taylor. Much was expected of Darren Bravo, who scored 5 and thus failing to score big in this game as he was their leading batsman in the 2 previous games.

When Dwayne Bravo joined Kallis at the crease the score was 92 for 3. The pair put on 55 runs in the last 5 overs taking it to 145. The Tallawahs innings start of with a brutal assault on Samuel Badree as Chris Gayle scored 26 in the first over, but soon fell to Dwayne for 27 runs just adding one more to his first over onslaught. As usual once Gayle departed, the Tallawahs line up started to crumble as Sulieman Benn quickly dismissed Mahela Jayawardene for 3. Next to follow was Chadwick Walton for 11 giving a straightforward catch back to bowler. Narsingh Deonarine was stumped out for 12 by keeper Akmal, when the score was 65 and he was soon followed by Daniel Vettori and Jermaine Blackwood, who both were victims of Badree.

Andre Russell tried to salvage the Tallawahs and steady the innings to reach 96, the total they needed to keep their high net run rate so as keep the Zouks out of the final 4 in next rounds. On achieving this he belted 2 sixes off Cooper and in next over gave the same treatment to Dwayne Bravo, leaving the Tallawahs needing only 26 from 14. A couple more boundaries from him made it 16 from 9 before he finally fell for 36 off 22 balls.

Taylor and Theron tried but failed to score the 8 needed to win and the Tallawahs only managed to reach 138 for 9. The win took the Red Steel to 11 points and if they manage to beat the Warriors on Tuesday, they will be at top with 13 points and will automatically qualify for the finals.

Dwayne Bravo was awarded the Man of the Match for his 49 and 2 wickets for 18. Badree picked up 3 for 35 while Benn took 2 for 28. Gayle said they were disappointed that they didn’t win but was happy they qualified for next rounds while Bravo said 3 in 3 was a great team effort and thanked the Red Steel fans for their great support. Next game is between the Red Steels and The Guyana Amazon Warriors on Tuesday.

(Photo by Ashley Allen/CPL)