Jamaica Tallawahs
The Jamaica Tallawahs staged a remarkable comeback to win the CPL title in 2022 thanks in large part to an undefeated 83 from starter Brandon King. As the Barbados Royals were easily defeated in the final, King and Shamarh Brooks laid the groundwork for the run chase with a sharp 86-run stand.
Royals were the favourites going into the final since they had only lost two games during the league stage. And they had dominated their way into the final with a victory in the first qualifier. The Tallawahs, on the other hand, had the toughest road to the championship since they had to win three games in a row after barely making it through the playoffs by placing fourth.
However, they can applaud Brooks for stepping up once more after scoring a century in the previous game. The Tallawahs didn’t panic even though Kennar Lewis left for a duck in the opening over of the chase.
Following a slow start, Brooks broke the chains with a six over long-on and then connected with a sweep in the next over for a boundary. King got the powerplay off to a slow start, but Brooks hit back-to-back boundaries to end the over. King eventually got going when batting with 8 off 14 when he collected a boundary off each of the following four overs.
Tallawahs had accelerated
King also used that time to establish his dominance as the Royals were severely outplayed. Tallawahs had accelerated to 86 before the midway point. And they already had their sights set on the prize. Tallawahs maintained their hold on the game despite Brooks’ flawless pick of the fielder at deep square leg in the subsequent over to offer the Royals a chance.
King, who had been on 30 off 28 until to that point, gained control of the game by launching a barrage of boundaries that stunned the opponents. The opener destroyed Joshua Bishop for four boundaries in a single over, lowering the necessary run rate closer to six.
The table-toppers eventually gave up when Corbin Bosch allowed 17 runs to be scored in one over. After a terrible night for Mujeeb Ur Rahman in which he conceded 20 runs in an over, King hit a six to secure an improbable victory with 23 balls remaining.
The Royals:
Prior to King’s heroics, the ball-damaging partnership of Fabian Allen and Nicholson Gordon kept the Royals at 161/7. The Royals, as opposed to the Tallawahs, did have a strong start thanks to Rahkeem Cornwall’s explosive play at the top of the order.
Cornwall continued to hammer sixes, helping his team score 54 runs in the opening five overs. In order to stop the powerplay, Allen initially took Cornwall off the last ball before rattling the wood to get rid of Kyle Mayers. After then, the scoring pace drastically decreased, with just 18 runs coming off the following four over after the powerplay.
The Royals once again needed a significant boost, as Jason Holder and Azam Khan were both striking out at less than 100. With sixes in back-to-back overs, Azam gave the innings some much-needed momentum, but Tallawahs began to chip away at the other end. Imad Wasim bowled Holder.
But Gordon managed to remove the tenacious Najibullah with the important wicket. While Azam did reach a fifty, which assisted his team in surpassing 160, Royals were aware that they had missed a wonderful opportunity to score a commanding total on the big night.
