Miserly Taylor helps Tallawahs beat Tridents

Jerome Taylor's economical spell ensured the Barbados Tridents couldn't overhaul the Jamaica Tallawahs total of 147 for 9 in a 19-run win for the defending CPL champions in Kingston. Man-of-the-Match Taylor had figures of 3-0-3-2 entering the final over with 28 needed to win for the Tridents but only a single was scored off the first two balls to clinch a victory for the Tallawahs as Taylor ended with 2 for 11 from four overs.

It was a hard fought win for the Tallawahs, who were sent in to bat by Tridents captain Kieron Pollard. Chadwick Walton got the Tallawahs off to a strong start with 25 before he was pinned on the crease by Ravi Rampaul three balls into the sixth to make it 35 for 1. Chris Gayle and Owais Shah calmly added 79 for the second wicket across the next 10 overs with Shah doing much of the work as the English import top-scored for the Tallawahs with 42. Having opened with Walton, Gayle evidenced the difficulty to score on the Sabina Park track as he began the 16th over on just 25 and was eventually dismissed for 39 off 38 balls.

Rampaul came back in a late spell that resulted in three more wickets as no one beyond the Tallawahs top three made it into double-digits. Rayad Emrit also did well restricting the Tallawahs at the death, taking three wickets in the last three overs as the Tallawahs slipped from 114 for 1 to finish on 147 for 8.

The Tridents chase was hurt by the departure of the explosive Dwayne Smith off the last ball of the first over for 4, gliding a late cut to Taylor at short third man in the ring to give Dave Bernard his first wicket. From there the Tridents took a cautious approach with opener Shane Dowrich ending the power play on 9 off 22 balls. He fell three balls later, giving a flat-footed swish to a length ball from Bernard that was easily pouched by Walton behind the stumps to make it 27 for 3.

Shoaib Malik played the innings of the match at the opposite end but was unable to get any support. In the end, his unbeaten 81 off 43 balls represented 63 percent of the Tridents runs. The next best efforts came from Dowrich and McKenzie who scored nine apiece.

The Tridents best chance for victory was for Pollard to stick around with Malik, but he fell for 6 at the start of the 16th, top-edging an attempted hook off Andre Russell to Taylor running in from the third man rope to make it 79 for 5. Malik gave the Tridents hope in the 17th when he thumped Rusty Theron for four to bring up his half-century in 29 balls and then hit back-to-back sixes over wide long-on as part of a 19-run frame to leave the Tridents needing 39 off 18 balls to win.

The Tallawahs took back momentum at the start of the 17th when Jason Holder fell to Taylor, mistiming a lofted drive to the cover sweeper for 7. New batsman Akeal Hosein struggled to get Malik back on strike in an over that netted just one run. The pressure grew on Malik with 38 needed from 12 and he signaled his intentions to try winning the match by himself after turning down a single to long-on off the first ball of the 19th. He was able to hit a six off the third ball, but nothing else went to the boundary and Taylor sealed the win at the start of the 20th as the Tridents eventually ended on 128 for 6.