It was a disappointing debut for Andre McCarthy in last year’s staging of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Twenty20 tournament, but the Jamaica Tallawahs middle order batsman is now making amends.

After mustering only a mere nine runs in three games last year, McCarthy has made significant improvements since then and has now come to the fore in a big way for the Tallawahs with two stellar, match-winning performances.

The 30-year-old scored two half-centuries — 60 off 44 in a 12-run win against the Barbados Tridents, and an unbeaten 61 off 37 balls in a five-wicket win over the St Lucia Stars — both also landing him the Man-of-the-Match honours.

“Last year was my first year at CPL, so I was a bit nervous and I never felt that confident. But this year I have gained that confidence and the strength.I have been preparing myself in doing some specific work and that is what is working for me now.

“I think from the first ball I faced in this year’s competition against the Barbados Tridents, that alone gave me the confidence, and from there I was positive that I was going to have a good tournament,” McCarthy told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.

McCarthy pointed out that his 175 runs at a strike rate of 128.67 and an average of 35.00 in six games so far comes as no surprise, as he has been making steady progress in meeting the high standards set for himself in this year’s campaign.

“I have been hitting the ball well and I have always had it in the back of my mind that I might be the one to come up trumps for the team on any given match day. That happened twice, and fortunately I worked out the situation well and brought us across the line, but I couldn’t have done it without the motivation of my teammates,” said the man affectionately called “Blabber” by his peers.

“It is more like self-belief; it is seeing other players go out in the middle and win a game for their team and I always told myself that I can do it too. So it is good for me to be in form for the Tallawahs this year and I just want to continue this positive trend and make the most of each opportunity given,” he added.

McCarthy weighed in on the quality of the two-time franchise champions now being led by former Sri Lankan wicketkeeper/batsman Kumar Sangakkara, having lost big-hitting hero Chris Gayle and Chadwick Walton.

The Tallawahs have so far won four of their six games away, which has left them third in the six-team standing on eight points.

“Whenever you play away games, teams normally bargain for three or two wins. So for us with one of the weakest teams, as many people say, to win four games on the road it means we are not the weakest team.

“It is a matter of how we play and normally a CPL team might be star-studded, but most times that team doesn’t make it to the play-offs. So every year we come in as the underdogs and we don’t mind it, we just have to go out there and show what the underdogs can do,” a chillingly confident McCarthy noted.

Now with the Tallawahs on their home leg, McCarthy is eyeing more success in the four games which commenced last night against the St Lucia Stars at Sabina Park.

“I have two half-centuries already, so it’s just for me to build on it. I am now playing in front of my home crowd and friends, so it’s time for me to sit in a little corner and reflect on how the tournament has gone so far and try not to get ahead of myself,” McCarthy declared.

He added: “Some of my friends tell me I need to show more emotion because I have been doing well, but that’s just me. If I win a game, instead of celebrating too much, I am thinking about winning another one.

“So it is just about taking it game by game and play to the best of our ability. We are not underestimating any team, we just have to go out there and do what we need to do, stick to the basics, and come out victorious for the home crowd.

— Sherdon Cowan