It will be a tale of two tapes in the 23rd match of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Twenty20 tournament when defending champions Jamaica Tallawahs oppose the struggling St Lucia Stars in the first of four homes games at Sabina Park today.

First ball is scheduled for 8:00 pm.

On one end, the Tallawahs, currently in third place on eight points, will be seeking to return to winning ways, and by extension, secure a spot in the play-offs with victory today following their recent 37-run defeat at the hands of St Kitts and Nevis Patriots at Warner Park on Monday.

While on the other end of the card, the Stars, who are rooted at the bottom of the six-team table with a mere point, will be hoping to register their maiden win to salvage pride from the failed campaign.

But having lost seven of their eight outings with one ending in a no-result — including a five-wicket defeat to the Tallawahs in their previous meeting — the chances of the Stars breaking the shackles on their losing skid seems a difficult task.

However, despite the scale favouring the Tallawahs — the two-time champions — captain Kumar Sangakkara is cognisant that he and his men will need to be ruthless in their approach to shut the door on their opponents.

“We win, we get the points, it is that simple. But in T20 cricket, you get situations that aren’t expected… that you are not used to, and that’s why in this very short format, momentum and all of that really matters.

“Luckily for us, the breaks have gone our way in some of the games, and I think that’s one of the reasons we are actually here [in a good position], so we just have to keep our minds focused on doing simple and basic things and staying together as a unit,” the Sri Lankan told journalists during a brief conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel yesterday.

“The guys have been fantastic and we are yet to see the best of our batsman and that’s the exciting part for us. Our bowling unit has performed exceptionally well and our batting unit is slowly coming together, so it is exciting for me as a skipper to hopefully see those performances come through as we progress,” he added.

In the last contest against the Stars, it took a well-played unbeaten half-century from local star Andre McCarthy to carry the Tallawahs across the line.

Though heavy reliance will again be placed on McCarthy as well as young New Zealander Glenn Phillips, Lendl Simmonds, and another local star Rovman Powell, Sangakkara pointed out that an all-round team effort is what has contributed to their success thus far.

“I think it is about everyone taking collective responsibility making sure that we try and play situations well, understand what the situations are especially on game day [because] things change very quickly in T20 cricket and the guys have responded very well.

“We have power hitting in Rovman Powell, Andre McCarthy, Lendl Simmonds and Jonathan Foo, but at the same time, we found different ways to win and that’s actually the key,” the skipper noted.

Meanwhile, the Stars —led by Australian Shane Watson, who recently took over from Darren Sammy — are lined with talent in Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Sammy and Marlon Samuels, who all have struck a fifty each.

But the team has not fired in unison, which has left them winless so far. A lot rests on them, as well as the imported players, to come good and give Lucia Stars hope of finishing the tournament on a high.

“Our team has a lot of high-quality resources, it is just that we haven’t been able to bring those together on game day and we have been trying to find those right combinations to be able to perform the way we know we can. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to bring that together which has been very disappointing,” Watson declared.

Jamaica Tallawahs — Lendl Simmons, Kumar Sangakkara (Capt), Mahmudullah, Glenn Philips, Mohammad Sami, Rovman Powell, Kesrick Williams, Garey Mathurin, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Krishmar Santokie, Jonathon Foo, Kennar Lewis, Andre McCarthy, Odean Smith, Trevon Griffiths, Oshane Smith.

St Lucia Stars — Darren Sammy, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Eddie Leie, Obed McCoy, Kyle Mayers, Timil Patel, Shane Shillingford, Shane Watson, Sunil Ambris, Rahkeem Cornwall, Kamran Akmal, Keddy Lesporis, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jesse Ryder.