Kesrick Williams is mobbed by his teammates after leading the Tallawahs to victory
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Kesrick Williams defended eight runs in the final over to lead the Jamaica Tallawahs to a nail-biting two-run win over the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
Coming into the match, the Tallawahs were in third place on the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) table. However, as a result of their victory, they are now in second place.
As for the Amazon Warriors, they have slipped down to fifth place as they have now lost four of their five games.
Being put in to bat first, the Tallawahs made a cautious start to their innings, but their calm approach backfired when opener Lendl Simmons was clean bowled by Rashid Khan for 20.
Steven Jacobs then proceeded to remove Andre McCarthy and captain Kumar Sangakkara for eight and five runs respectively. Rovman Powell fared no better as he only scored seven runs.
Jonathan Foo gave the Tallawahs a slight spark with his 12-ball 20, but he was ultimately cleaned up by Rashid.
Glenn Phillips, who had opened the batting and survived up to this point, played an instrumental role with the bat as he scored 51 off 47 balls, which included four boundaries and two sixes.
Thanks to Phillips, the Tallawahs finished on 128/7 off their 20 overs.
Rashid, Jacobs and Rayad Emrit picked up two wickets apiece, while Sohail Tanvir chipped in with one.
Chasing 129 to win, the Amazon Warriors got off to a fantastic start as skipper Martin Guptill and Chadwick Walton amassed a 67-run partnership.
Walton ended up being dismissed by Williams for 37, while Guptill was clean bowled by Garey Mathurin for 33.
Jason Mohammed and Babar Azam steadied the ship with a 49-run stand and left the Amazon Warriors needing eight runs for victory going into the final over.
Williams conceded just one run from the first two balls before a dropped catch on the third ball gave the Amazon Warriors three more runs.
On the fourth ball of the over, Williams took out Babar Azam for 23 before giving away just a run on the penultimate ball of the match.
Needing three runs to win off the last ball, the Amazon Warriors were unable to get the job done as Roshon Primus was caught at deep midwicket.
Mohammad remained undefeated on 24 off 18 balls, which included a boundary and a six.
Williams was the most successful bowler with three wickets, while Mathurin claimed one.