Tallawahs would take 3 from 4 at home, says Gayle
CHRIS Gayle, the captain of Jamaica Tallawahs, said he would be satisfied if his team gets three wins from the four matches on the home leg of the Hero Caribbean Premier League.
The Tallawahs face St Lucia Zouks at Sabina Park today. They will then turn their attention to Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel on Thursday, Barbados Tridents on Saturday and Guyana Amazon Warriors on Sunday.
All games start at 6:00 pm, except the one on Sunday, which gets going at 4:00 pm.
“Winning [those] four [games] would be nice, but that will be a hard task. If we can get to win three home games; that would be fantastic,” Gayle said as he addressed the media at a reception at the Norman Manley Airport’s Pineapple Lounge on Sunday.
“I would be satisfied with that because if you look at how the table is set up at this time, most teams playing at home have lost at home as well.”
Jamaica Tallawahs are fourth with four points.
Title-holders Barbados Tridents lead the six-team standings with eight points, while St Lucia Zouks have seven points and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots are in third place with six points.
The Red Steel (three points) and the Amazon Warriors (two points) are fifth and sixth, respectively.
Fast bowler Jerome Taylor agrees with his skipper that winning three of the games would be a positive outcome. He added, however, that the team will be going all out for a perfect record at home this season.
“Looking at our history at Sabina Park, we’d settle for three from four. But we still have some way to go and we are looking really to nail it home at Sabina Park,” Taylor told the Jamaica Observer.
Though the Tallawahs have won only two of their opening four games in the 2015 CPL Twenty20 competition, all-rounder Andre Russell said there is no cause for alarm.
“Winning two and losing two… it’s early days, because you have teams which have played six games already. So once we make use of these four home games we should be on our way,” he explained.
Russell, who is an aggressive pace bowler and has the reputation for big hitting, said he aims to thrill fans at the venue.
“I know people are going to come out and they expect Andre Russell to do what has been seen in IPL (Indian Premier League) and also in CPL last year. As a team we just have to stay calm and focus on the game,” he told the Observer.
–Sanjay Myers
