(Jamaica Gleaner) Former national cricketers Nehemiah Perry and Wayne Lewis believe that the Jamaica Tallawahs were fortunate to have gotten to the semi-final stage of the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season in spite of their losing record.
Having finished bottom of the league last year with only two wins, the Tallawahs only managed to improve to three wins in 10 games this season, losing six, with one game declared as producing no result because of poor weather conditions. Their run ended at the hands of eventual champions Trinbago Knight Riders, who took home their third championship in four years.
Perry says that the Tallawahs returning to the competition’s final four after a year’s absence was not much to celebrate, as they qualified on the back of poor performances and the failings of the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, and last season’s champions, Barbados Tridents.
“I thought that the standard of play was not up to par. I thought it was a miracle they (Tallawahs) got to the semi-finals, and that goes to show you that the other two teams played worse than them,” Perry told The Gleaner.
The team was in upheaval before a ball was bowled, with the franchise deciding not to retain the services of Chris Gayle and the public discourse that followed between him and management. Additionally, all-rounder Andre Russell indicated that 2020 would be his last season with the team after expressing issues with management, pointing to a lack of communication and unprofessionalism within the team. Coach Ramnaresh Sarwan also left the biosecure bubble before the start of the tournament for what was described as personal reasons.
Those issues aside, Perry and Lewis were critical of the batting performances as well as the team’s apparent lack of unity throughout the tournament.
“I think Glenn Phillips did well, Rovman [Powell] was not at his usual best, and Russell, with his knee issue, missed a couple of games. But you can see that the Tallawahs were just hoping that they clicked, and it just didn’t happen for them,” Perry said. “They didn’t look like a cohesive unit that is enjoying themselves on the field.” Meanwhile, Lewis pointed squarely to the team’s batting failure for their disappointing campaign.
“When you look at the Tallawahs’ batting throughout, they didn’t really bat with any real purpose or conviction throughout. They had some really poor batting displays throughout the tournament, and you can say that their bowlers really stood up well during the tournament; but for some reason, the batting did not take on,” Lewis said. “I thought they were very lucky to get to the semi-finals and in the end, the writing was on the wall that they would not have passed the Knight Riders.”
However, Lewis said that some credit should be given to the team for making the semi-finals despite only winning three games, in light of how dreadful they were last year.
