Jamaica Tallawahs Head Coach Paul Nixon is pleased with the form of his team heading into their two Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) games in the United States.

The Tallawahs, who currently lead the preliminary standing with 13 points from eight games, are scheduled to play third-place St Lucia Zouks (eight points from seven games) on Saturday, and again on Sunday at Central Broward Regional Park in Florida.

It is first the staging of CPL games in the US.

The Jamaica franchise was particularly dominant at home, winning all four games at Sabina Park.

They began the home leg with a five-wicket win over Guyana Amazon Warriors — the only team to have defeated them this season.

They then thumped hapless St Kitts and Nevis Patriots by 108 runs, before comfortably dispatching title-holders Trinbago Knight Riders — formerly Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel — and former winners, Barbados Tridents by 19-run and 36-run margins, respectively.

“We are absolutely delighted at winning the four games. We wanted a full bag of points and we won it. That is what I wanted from the outset and this really sets us up for those games in Florida,” Nixon told the Jamaica Observer.

“It’s just the old cliché of one game at a time, we’ve got to do the right thing. We keep doing the right things and executing under pressure with calmness and skill. The spirit is right and we can’t wait for [the games in] Florida.

The Tallawahs have shown preference for chasing down targets, but on three of those four occasions at Sabina Park they lost the toss and were forced to bat first.

Only once did captain and talismanic batsman Christopher Gayle get going. That was when his unbeaten 45, batting at number seven, got the Tallawahs over the line against the Amazon Warriors.

But Andre Russell, Kumar Sangakkara, Shakib Al Hasan, Rovman Powell and Gayle’s opening partner Chadwick Walton, have all contributed meaningfully with the bat.

The bowlers have also done well as a team, restricting opponents to low totals.

“We’ve shown flexibility in our batting and bowling. We’ve got match winners in this side to post amazing scores and that is outstanding. We did enough with the ball and we had the flexibility. We have some of the best spinners in the competition and they didn’t bowl [against the Tridents]. And it was great captaincy from Chris…[his] captaincy, as we’ve gone on and on, has got better and better and [against the Tridents]; it was absolutely high class,” said the Englishman, who guided the Tallawahs to the inaugural CPL title in 2013.

So far, the Tallawahs are the only franchise assured of a place in the knockout phase of the tournament.

But they have lost the services of South African great Dale Steyn.

The pace bowler, who departed after taking four wickets against the Tridents on July 20, has contractual commitments with Cricket South Africa and is replaced by compatriot Dane Paterson.

“Any player in our squad will be a loss, but we’ve got a great man in Dane Paterson coming in. Dale is world- class, he always was and he always will be. He had a tough time at the start of the competition because of wet balls and slippery grounds, but as the tournament went on he showed his class.”

— Sanjay Myers