KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Veteran opener Chris Gayle surpassed 13,000 Twenty20 runs as Jamaica Tallawahs broke a four-game losing skid with a four-wicket victory over Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League on Sunday.
Playing in steamy conditions following a 1 pm (2 pm Eastern Caribbean time) start at Sabina Park, Tallawahs stifled the Tridents with spin, restricting them to 140 for nine off their allotted 20 overs.
Ashley Nurse, batting at number seven, top-scored with an aggressive 18-ball 37 while South African left-hander JP Duminy struggled for fluency in his 31 which required 35 deliveries.
They were the only two to pass 20 as left-arm spinner Zahir Khan weaved a web around the Tridents batsmen to end with three for 20 from his four overs.
New Zealander George Worker, who shared the new ball with fellow left-arm spinner Chris Lamont, finished with two for 16 while off-spinner Ramaal Lewis picked up two for 23.
In reply, Tallawahs spoiled a strong start after suffering a mini-collapse but recovered in time to reach their target with nine deliveries left.
Glenn Phillips and Chris Gayle initially gave Tallawahs a smooth start when they put on 48 off 31 balls for the first wicket.
Significantly Gayle, six days shy of his 40th birthday, became the first batsman to pass 13 000 T20 runs in his 389th appearance when he smashed off-spinner Nurse for the second of two sixes in the second over.
Phillips, meanwhile, counted four fours and a six off 15 balls before becoming the first casualty, caught in the deep off Holder (2-21) in the sixth over and Gayle followed in the same over, also caught down the ground after being dropped off the previous delivery by Hayden Walsh running in from square leg.
When Walsh (2-32) removed both Worker (2) and Dwayne Smith (0) in successive deliveries in the ninth over to leave the innings on 68 for four, Tridents were back in the contest but Walton produced a mature knock to steer Tallawahs to victory.
He struck a four and reached his second half-century of the campaign with the last of his five sixes – a solid blow over long-on off medium-pacer Carter which took the hosts past their target.
Crucially, he posted 45 for the fifth wicket with Glenn who blasted a four and three sixes in a 12-ball knock.
When Glenn and Lewis (2) fell in successive overs to leave Tallawahs on 116 for six in the 14th, Walton kept his nerve to foster a 29-run, unbroken seventh-wicket stand with Derval Green (9 not out) and see off the Tridents challenge.
Tallawahs still lie bottom of the standings on two points while Tridents are just above them in fifth, also on two points, but with a superior net run rate.
