Caribbean Premier League: Paul Nixon rues loss but confident Jamaica Tallawahs will rebound

Jamaica Tallawahs coach Paul Nixon had to regret his decision of sending in Jacques Rudolph ahead as his team lost by 5 runs to Guyana Amazon Warriors at Sabina Park on Thursday. As a result, Jamaica missed out on a place in the semis of the Caribbean Premier League.

Tallawahs needed 10 from 6 balls in an overall target of 140. But they could only manage 4 runs in the final over to give Warriors victory.

"We got ourselves in a good situation but I made the wrong decision, sending Jacques the left-hander in. We should have sent a right-hander in and made it much easier. I think I made a tactical error there. With Chris (Gayle) in at the time and Jacques to come in, it was the wrong decision. If we could do it all again, we would change it," Nixon said.

"The Warriors have got a lot of quality spinners and it's always going to be tough but when you know a guy is only going to go one way generally, there is a time and a place to put your chips on the table and try and change the game in four or five balls and that could have been it. We've learnt our lessons."

Chris Gayle was the top-scorer for Tallawahs with 46 from 43 balls. Chadwick Walton hit 36 but the rest of the batting failed as they went for the runs in the latter stages od the match.

They were 130 for six at the start of the final over bowled by Chris Barnwell, but lost South African Vernon Philander and David Bernard Jr, within the first three balls, to lose all momentum.

Jamaica will square off with Barbados Tridents in the feature match of Saturday's doubleheader, as they lobby for a spot in the semi-finals of the inaugural tournament.

St Lucia Zouks and Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel clash in the first game, also at Sabina Park.