Dale Steyn continued his excellent form in the CPL with 4-27 in the Jamaica Tallawahs’ 36-run win against the Barbados Tridents.
This was Steyn’s last game of this year’s CPL as he flies back to South Africa for the CSA Awards before gearing up for the NZ Test series. He’s certainly left his mark on the competition, taking 12 wickets from his eight matches at a superb economy rate of 6.81. He sits in second on the wicket-charts.
AB de Villiers and Wayne Parnell, the other two players recalled for the awards ceremony, played their last home match for the Tridents on the 17th, so didn’t take part in the match in Kingston. David Wiese did, however, and contributed two wickets, albeit at a costly 45 runs.
The Tallawahs are now in pole position to go straight through to the final. That was their sixth win from their eight matches so far, sitting three points above the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
Th rain-affected match was reduced to 18 overs per side, and experienced campaigner Chadwick Walton did the damage at the top of the order at the expense of Chris Gayle, who fell for eight. Walton smashed five sixes and nine fours for his 54-ball 97. Kumar Sangakkara weighed in 50, Rovman Powell a 14-ball 34, to blitz the side to 195-5. It could have been more had Wiese not taken two wickets in four balls to see off Sangakkara and Andre Russell.
Nicholas Pooran, who smacked 81 a few days ago, fought a lone battle in the chase. The promising 20-year-old scored his side’s fastest ever 50, off just 24 balls, but the next best score was 16 from skipper Kieron Pollard, who was one of Steyn’s four victims on the night. Steyn also saw off compatriot Wiese for a golden duck, for the Phalaborwa Express to leave in style in the clinical victory.
Photo: Randy Brooks/Getty Images
