Chris Gayle struck four boundaries and four sixes during his unbeaten knock of 71
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots captain Chris Gayle and his opening partner Evin Lewis hammered 71 not out and 69 respectively to help their side defeat the Jamaica Tallawahs by 37 runs.
The Patriots’ win saw them advance to the knockout stage of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), but the Tallawahs still have a good chance to going through as well as they currently sit in third place on the points table.
The Patriots are the second team to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament after the Trinbago Knight Riders.
Being put in to bat first, the Patriots came out firing on all cylinders as Gayle and Lewis amassed a 110-run partnership, during which Lewis brought up his half-century.
With the Patriots cruising, the Tallawahs finally got the breakthrough they needed on the third ball of the 13th over when Lewis was caught behind off the bowling of Odean Smith for 69 off 39 balls, which included five boundaries and six sixes.
Carlos Brathwaite made a quickfire 26 before being removed by Krishmar Santokie, but Gayle and Mohammad Nabi kept the runs flowing with a 50-run stand before Nabi was dismissed by Kesrick Williams for a 12-ball 29.
Gayle went on to score 71 off 55 balls, which included four boundaries and four sixes, as the Patriots finished on 208/3 off their 20 overs.
Williams, Smith and Santokie picked up one wicket apiece.
Chasing 209 to win, the Tallawahs made a great start to their innings as openers Glenn Phillips and Trevon Griffith amassed a 64-run partnership before Griffith was caught by Lewis at mid-off off the bowling of Jonathan Carter for 42.
Phillips went on to make a 27-ball 31 before he was sent packing by Tabraiz Shamsi.
Tallawahs skipper Kumar Sangakkara failed to have an impact with the bat as he was caught by Shamsi at point off the bowling of Nabi for 11.
Shamsi then proceeded to take out Lendl Simmons and Jonathan Foo for six and 17 runs respectively.
Despite Rovman Powell and Andre McCarthy scoring 31 and 21 respectively, their efforts went in vain as the Tallawahs ended up falling well short of their target.
Shamsi was the most successful bowler with three wickets, while Carter, Nabi and Samuel Badree claimed one wicket each.