CPL: Chris Gayle Sees Jamaica Tallawahs to Victory in Opening Fixture

A half century from captain Chris Gayle and a quickfire 34 from Andre Russell set up a win for the Jamaica Tallawahs against St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on Saturday. Another fine bowling display for the Patriots' left arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi was not enough for the home team, who lost wickets regularly throughout their chase.

While Gayle was cementing his place as the leading Twenty20 run-scorer of all time, the rest of the Tallawahs' top order struggled. Chadwick Walton fell in the very first over, lbw to Krishmar Santokie.

Rovman Powell and Shakib al Hasan departed for single figures. Kumar Sangakkara was the only other batsman who found any sort of fluidity in the first half of the innings and was looking dangerous before a mix up with Gayle saw him run out for 26 (21).

Unfortunately for the Tallawahs no sooner had Gayle got to 50 he got out, skewing a ball from Thisara Perera to third man for 51.

That meant that the responsibility for guiding the Jamaican side to a competitive total fell to vice captain Andre Russell. The powerful all-rounder did not disappoint as he blasted his way to 34 from 20 balls in an innings that included three maximums.

The Tallawahs' total of 153 for 7 looked light and it would take a good bowling display from them to defend it against a Patriots side that bats deep down the order. They delivered just that as all the bowlers shared the wickets around.

Kesrick Williams' first wicket in CPL saw Evin Lewis depart in the second over of the Patriots chase and there were regular wickets throughout that kept pegging back the home side.

Faf Du Plessis was doing a decent job at holding the innings together and while he was there the Patriots felt confident. But just as he got going, he found a leading edge off a delivery from Jon-Russ Jaggesar and the bowler caught a looping return catch.

We give you Kesrick Williams, Man of the Match #SKNvJAM #CPL16 pic.twitter.com/PtChcrEaO8

- CPL T20 (@CPL) July 2, 2016

The Patriots just couldn't get going no matter how hard they tried and in the end that half century from Gayle proved to be a match winning contribution. The last remaining hope for the Patriots was the big-hitting Carlos Brathwaite but Dale Steyn accounted for him in his final over as he picked up figures of 1/21 on his CPL debut.

A late cameo from Devon Thomas saw him hit three consecutive sixes in the final over to make the result seem closer than it was, but those regular wickets meant the chase for victory stuttered and never really started.

The Tallawahs will be delighted to have got off to a winning start but for the Patriots this loss means they have lost two home games at the start of their campaign. They have two matches at Warner Park to try and rescue the St Kitts leg of their tournament and will be hoping for victory when they take on the St Lucia Zouks.