Caribbean Premier League in full swing across the West Indies

BY KAYLA KARIM

The Caribbean Premier League is in full swing across the Caribbean for the annual tournament. The seventh season of the Twenty20 cricket league began on September 4^th and will run until October 12^th 2019. The matches will be played in six countries in the West Indies – Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and Saint Lucia. The finals will take place at Brian Lara Cricket Academy.

ST KITTS and Nevis vs Jamaica Tallawahs

Tuesday night was one for the books for St Kitts and Nevis when they came from behind to beat the Jamaica Tallawahs by 4 wickets. It was the first win for the Patriots in the 7^th game of the CPL tournament, and the win resulted in the first points taken by a team other than Guyana Amazon Warriors and the Trinbago Knight Riders this CPL.

It was the second highest T20 chase of all time with seven balls to spare. The batting records were broken multiple times as the CPL got two high team totals over the course of a few hours. 37 sixes were hit in the match, which also happens to be the joint most in T20 cricket.

Chris Gayle contributed to that hitting ten sixes during his 22^nd T20 century in alongside Chadwick Walton. Walton’s 36-ball 73 cane in yet another record, a CPL stand of 162.

Evin Lewis then continued the trend of the game setting the chase rolling with the fastest CPL fifty, off 17 balls, and the rest of the top four put in significant performances as the Patriots completed a late win.

GUYANA AMAZON WARRIORS vs Barbados Tridents

Sitting at 3-0 so far in the tournament, the Guyana Amazon Warriors who scored 180 for 4 beat Barbados Tridents 133 by 37 runs on September 9^th 2019. In the opening weekend of CPL 2019 Nicholas Pooran helped the Warriors score 72 off the final four overs at Providence Stadium. Poorans run put a total on the board that was well out of the reach of Barbados Tridents. Pooran was the star of the match, striking 61 off 30 balls with five sixes to light up the stadium.

On the other side, Barbados Ashley Nurse wasn’t having the best night. Nurse went wicketless for 38 runs in his four overs. Jason Holder bounced out Brandon King in the second over while Shimron Hetmyer’s drive was intercepted by a brilliant effort after a diving left at backward point by Hayden Walsh JR who was substituting for Lamichhane.

The home team Warriors scored 117 off their last ten overs with help from Hemraj. He made 63 by the 16^th committing to a solid job building a foundation for Pooran and Sherfane Rutherford to work with. Hemraj’s night wasn’t done after his first innings half century. He began the chase, wiping out Alex Hales for a golden duck and the Tridents failed to get anything going after that.