Christopher Gayle, the Jamaica Tallawahs captain, says he wants no less than three wins from their four home games in this season’s Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Twenty20 tournament.
“I would target three games, because you have to just give and take…to get three games would be a big plus for us, but we are going to take it in stages,” he said yesterday, following the team’s return to the island after a stretch of four road games.
The Tallawahs are second in the table with five points from four matches, behind the Amazon Warriors, who have eight points from five outings.
Trinbago Knight Riders (four points) are third, while Barbados Tridents (three points) are fourth. St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and St Lucia Zouks, who have two points each, complete the table. Up to press time yesterday, the Amazon Warriors were scheduled to host the Zouks.
Gayle, who was interviewed inside the Pineapple Lounge at the Norman Manley International Airport during a reception jointly hosted by team sponsor Appleton Estate Rum and CPL partner Digicel, stressed that momentum has to start from this Friday’s game against Guyana Amazon Warriors at Sabina Park.
“Everybody needs points and it’s going to be very challenging, but we are home and we have to just stamp our authority and let them know this is our lion’s den.
“Once we can get a good start at home, then we can get the crowd involved and keep that momentum and make it two games on the trot. But the first game is always going to be crucial, so once the guys are ready and pumped they can deliver for us,” the 36-year-old said.
The Tallawahs started the 2016 campaign with respective wins over St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and current title-holders Trinbago Knight Riders.
That was followed by a loss to Guyana Amazon Warriors. In their most recent encounter on Monday, they had to settle for a share of the points as rain forced a no-result against Barbados Tridents.
Gayle, who has already scored a century for the Tallawahs this season, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the team so far.
“I am satisfied with the results on the road. We wanted to actually win three games, but rain affected the last one and it’s just one point each. The good thing is that we can use that game to build some momentum coming up to the game against Guyana on the 15th,” the left-handed opener explained.
Head Coach Paul Nixon saw positives after a poor batting show against Amazon Warriors, who dismissed the Tallawahs for 100. During that innings the Jamaica franchise batsmen failed to apply enough patience and awareness on a pitch that was slow and offered uneven bounce.
“We’re in a good place as a team, though obviously it was slightly disappointing in Guyana. But great lessons were learnt… it proves that we didn’t execute well under pressure on different pitches, so we knew we had to bounce back quickly and we did that in the way we approached the game against the Tridents,” Nixon said. (Jamaica Observer)
Gayle is still dreaming as he always does. He cannot beat the Amazon Warriors ever again much less wining 3 games. Continue to dream.