Gayle ton powers Jamaica to victory

The match in a tweet: Chris Gayle has done it again! The powerful opener bludgeons his 18^th Twenty20 century to lead the Jamaica Tallawahs to victory over the Trinbago Knight Riders in Port of Spain.

The result: Trinbago Knight Riders (4-191) defeated by the Jamaica Tallawahs (3-192) by seven wickets with 10 balls to spare.

The hero: This was the ‘Universe Boss’ at his calculated, explosive best. In pursuit of the Knight Riders’ imposing 191, Gayle, as has become his custom, begun slowly. He took just 30 off his first 25 balls, initially tied down by the miserly Sunil Narine. But, requiring 12 an over at the halfway point of the Tallawah’s innings, Gayle unleashed. He plundered 59 runs off his next 13 deliveries (4,6,6,1,6,6,4,1,6,1,6,6,6) with Trinbago bowlers Sulieman Benn, Kevon Cooper and Javon Scantlebury-Searles bearing the brunt of the Jamaican’s brute force. Gayle brought up his ton (off just 49 balls) with a six over long-off and managed another – his 11^th maximum of the innings – off Dwayne Bravo to finish not out on 108 as the Tallawahs cruised home in the penultimate over. It was a classic Gayle knock, both brutal and measured in equal parts.

The consolation effort: There’s not much more Sunil Narine could have done for the Knight Riders. In the midst of the Gayle onslaught, the mystery spinner somehow conceded just nine runs from his four overs, picking up the key wicket of former Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara. Remarkably, four of his runs conceded were wides. While Gayle perhaps confirmed his status as the game’s premier T20 batsman, Narine proved once again he’s one of the most difficult bowlers to get away in the shortest format.

The international stars: Trinbago had their trio of international batsmen to thank for their competitive total. After being sent in by the Tallawahs, Hashim Amla (74 off 52 balls) and Brendon McCullum (35 off 18) got the Knight Riders off to flyer before the former Kiwi captain was bowled in the final over of the powerplay. That brought McCullum’s countryman Colin Munro, fresh off a century in Jamaica’s previous match, to the crease. Together with Amla, the pair put on 101 for the second wicket before Munro departed for a superb 39-ball 55, helping Trinbago to 191. Amla showed no let-up to his Protea teammate Dale Steyn, who finished with figures of 1-56 from his four overs. Bangladesh allrounder Shakid al-Hasan fared little better, conceding 26 from two overs.

The support act: While Gayle was undoubtedly the star, Sangakkara (20 from 14) and then Andre Russell (24 off 18) helped keep the scoreboard ticking for the Tallawahs. But it was 22-year-old Rovman Powell who hit the winning runs for Jamaica, smashing consecutive boundaries from the first two balls of the penultimate over to secure victory.

The stat: Narine excluded, the Knight Riders’ bowlers went for 183 runs from 14.2 overs.

The wash-up: Jamaica’s victory sees them go top of the CPL table with wins from their first two matches while the Knight Riders have just the single victory from four games. The CPL’s next fixture gets underway in Basseterre (Wednesday 9am AEST) with the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots taking on the Barbados Tridents.