2015 Hero CPL: Eliminator One
Match: Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel v Jamaica Tallawahs
Venue: Queen's Park Oval
Time: 6pm local (2200 GMT)
Match: Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel v Jamaica Tallawahs
Venue: Queen's Park Oval
Time: 6pm local (2200 GMT)
The 2015 Hero Caribbean Premier League gets serious on Thursday when the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel meet the Jamaica Tallawahs in the first knockout game of the tournament.
Having finished 3rd and 4th respectively, they must face off to see who plays the Guyana Amazon Warriors in Saturday's 2nd play-off game. The winner of that tie will then meet defending champions the Barbados Tridents in Sunday's showpiece final.
They have already played twice in the CPL this season, with the Tallawahs smashing the Red Steel by 50 runs in the first game thanks to captain Chris Gayle's stunning century, and the Red Steel bouncing back with a fine 7-run victory on Sunday on their own patch.
Gayle is the competition's top scorer so far with 400 runs, has the only hundred, and has smashed 30 sixes - 13 more than his nearest rival - so opposite number Dwayne Bravo is well aware of how important it is to get Gayle out early:
"We'll target @henrygayle early and see if we can knock him over" - Dwayne Bravo on the #RedSteel's plans #CPL15 https://t.co/tyusB2on3w
— CPL T20 (@CPL) July 23, 2015The Tallawahs have struggled a little in recent times, losing three out of their last four games with the other abandoned without a ball being bowled. If Gayle has not fired at the top of the innings, they have been seriously short of runs, with the likes of Mahela Jayawardene and Chris Lynn not firing as much as they had hoped.
The momentum is all with the Red Steel despite their defeat at the hands of the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Tuesday which cost them top spot and an automatic place in Sunday's final. They had won their three previous games, all at the Queen's Park Oval, all roared on by the Trini Posse!
But Gayle told us he thinks their defeat in Guyana could leave them vulnerable, and says the Tallawahs know what they have to do having been in this position before (they won the inaugural CPL in 2013):
"Listen to me: I'm pretty confident. We know what's required" - @henrygayle on #RedSteel v #Tallawahs #CPL15 https://t.co/oXDFNeK1x2
— CPL T20 (@CPL) July 23, 2015The match gets under way at 6pm local time in Trinidad, which is 2200 GMT, with a full house expected and an amazing atmosphere set for the first eliminator at the Biggest Party In Sport. The Warriors await the winner...!
Check out what happened when they last met, on Sunday at the Queen's Park Oval:
