Jamaica Tallawahs will be aiming to make it three in three from their home games in the 2016 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Twenty20 (T20) tournament when they take on the defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders at Sabina Park this evening. The game is scheduled to begin at 8:00 pm.
After securing two comprehensive wins over the weekend, the Tallawahs are on nine points from six games, one point behind the Guyana Amazon Warriors, who continue to lead on 10 points from seven games. The Knight Riders — formerly Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel — are third on six points.
On Friday the Tallawahs got by Amazon Warriors by five wickets, and produced another dominant display to register a comprehensive 108-run victory over St Kitts and Nevis Patriots a day later.
In their last outing, the Knight Riders comfortably defeated former champions Barbados Tridents by seven wickets at Kensington Oval.
Chris Gayle, the captain of the Jamaica franchise, is optimistic that the team can continue its winning trend in what is anticipated to be their toughest task to date.
“It is always going to be tough playing against them, but we have a momentum, so hopefully we can use that to our advantage. We have been playing on the wicket two nights now, so we know what it has to offer; and we batted and we bowled first and we won the games, so it is very important for us to continue the trend,” Gayle told the Jamaica Observer in a post-match interview on Saturday.
Gayle, who aggravated a back injury in Friday’s game, pointed out that he will be “okay” for the contest against the Dwayne Bravo-led team, which boasts high-quality players in batsmen Colin Munro and Hashim Amla and spinner Sul Narine.
“They have some very good quality players, but this is T20 cricket and anything can happen on any particular day; it doesn’t matter what team you have. It is the team that executes the best out there in the middle that will get the result, so hopefully that will be us,” the hard-hitting left-hander noted.
Gayle, reflecting on the team’s performance in the previous games, hopes to maintain a business-like approach.
“It was a good overall performance [against Patriots] and if we can play like that on Monday [today], we should get another positive result. This is a crucial one for us, but if we can execute our plans, I don’t see any reason why we can’t come out on top,” said Gayle.
“They (Knight Riders) are playing good cricket and coming off a win as well, so hopefully it can be a good game of cricket for the fans, and at the end of the day the Tallawahs can come out on top,” he added.