BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – A fluent 76 from left-hander Alick Athanaze upstaged an equally languid 78 from Shamarh Brooks to lead hosts Barbados Royals to an edifying six-wicket win against Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League on Thursday.
Athanaze struck seven fours and three sixes from 48 balls and shared 89 for the third wicket with Englishman Laurie Evans to earn the Player-of-the-Match award and bring stability to a successful Royals chase of 161 in the marquee Twenty20 tournament at Kensington Oval.
The home team lost the opening pair of Kyle Mayers and Rahkeem Cornwall cheaply and stumbled to 25 for two inside the Power Play, but Evans came to the crease and made 30 to restore their chances to win the contest.
Evans and Athanaze fell within the final five overs. Still, Royals captain Rovman Powell, not out on 10, and all-rounder Jason Holder, not out on nine, batted through the closing stages to take them over the finish line with six balls remaining.
“Alick was fantastic,” Powell said. “On a [pitch] that is a little bit slow, we needed someone to score 70-75, and I think Alick was excellent.
“We talked to him, saying that all he needs to do was just play proper cricket shots, don’t try anything funky… just play cricket shots and he will be successful.”
He added: “I think he has a perfect future. West Indies must look at that and start managing him from now on.
“We have seen players play all three formats in such quick time. There is talent. There is a lot of talent in the Caribbean, but the problem is we don’t harness that talent.”
The result meant that Royals, Tallawahs, Guyana Amazon Warriors, and Trinbago Knight Riders all have five points with remaining matches and net-run rate currently the determining factor in the point table, headed by St Lucia Kings on six points, with St Kitts & Nevis Patriots trailing on two.
The tournament continues on Saturday with a double-header at the same venue, where the Warriors and Patriots meet from 10 a.m. East Caribbean Time (ECT), and Royals face Kings from 8 p.m. ECT.
Earlier, Brooks smashed seven fours and four sixes from 41 balls and shared successive 54-run stands with Raymon Reifer and Pakistani Imad Wasim to set the foundation for a Tallawahs total of 160 for seven after they were put into bat.
Tallawahs sunk to 23 for three when they lost their captain Brandon King, left-hander Kirk McKenzie, and England international Alex Hales cheaply inside the Power Play, but Reifer made 16, and Wasim added 33 and helped to beef up the total in partnership with Brooks.
Afghanistan leg-spinner Qais Ahmad bowled Reifer in the 13th over before Brooks was caught at long-on off the same bowler in the 17th over, leaving Wasim to lead the late order hitting before he was run out off the final ball of the innings.
Australian off-spinner Chris Green trapped Kyle Mayers lbw for four in the fourth over, and Wasim bowled Cornwall for 17 in the sixth over, and fears that the Royals could spectacularly implode like the previous night against the Knight Riders surfaced when they were bowled out for 61.
“The conversation was brief and short,” Powell said about the previous night’s defeat. “We are not bad cricketers after one game. You get bowled out for 61; you can’t talk about much.
“There was a constant belief in the guys; somebody in the team had to stand up. In the previous games, we got more than 190 to score, but [in this match] it was good to see they got two wickets in the Power Play, and we fought. I think it was commendable.”
Athanaze and Evans put the run chase on a firm footing, and the Royals entered the final five overs needing 48 from 30 balls to put them right back in the race for a place in the playoffs.
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