ROVMAN Powell, the Jamaica Tallawahs captain, says Wednesday’s win over St Lucia Zouks in Tarouba, Trinidad, to begin their 2020 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign was the ideal boost ahead of yesterday afternoon’s scheduled clash with Trinbago Knight Riders.

“Over the years it has always been one of the better clashes in the CPL. Tallawahs have always represented well, so we’re looking to do that,” Powell told the Jamaica Observer during a post-match interview on Wednesday.

“We are coming off [the opening] win, just like the Trinidad team, so it’s just for us to go out and play our game,” he added.

The Trinidad-based franchise, the three-time former champions, started with a win on Tuesday, carving out a four-wicket victory against last year’s losing finalists Guyana Amazon Warriors in Tarouba.

On Wednesday, the 2013 and 2016 winners Jamaica Tallawahs virtually matched that, coming away with a five-wicket win versus the Zouks with seven balls to spare.

Batting first after losing the toss, the Zouks made 158-7 with West Indies Test batsman Roston Chase top-scoring with 52.

The Tallawahs spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Veerasammy Permaul claimed two wickets each.

In response, the Tallawahs reached 160-5 thanks to Asif Ali’s 47 not out and Glenn Phillips (44). The Zouks pacer Kesrick Williams grabbed 2-32.

“I think it was a good all-round performance from the guys. It was important that we started well — we talked about it and we did just that,” the Tallawahs skipper, who made 26 against the Zouks, told the Observer.

“We were always confident of chasing it [the target] down…we believe we have a very good batting, so it was for us to get to the crease and apply ourselves. We think we bat down to about number eight, and in T20 cricket that’s a lot of batting. But what I’d like to see is the top order spending a little bit more time at the crease,” he explained.

Powell said that while the bowlers did “very well” against the Zouks, the fielding is an area that has to improve.

“It’s just for us now to look forward to the rest of games and keep doing what we have to do to pick up those wins,” he reiterated.

The 2020 CPL was scheduled to be staged across venues in the region between August 19 and September 26, but changes were forced due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The rescheduled tournament began on Tuesday and is set to run until September 10. All matches are being played behind closed doors at both the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad’s capital Port of Spain and Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba. Barbados Tridents are the defending champions.

— Sanjay Myers