BASSETERRE, St Kitts, CMC – Chris Gayle’s wretched form came squarely under the microscope here yesterday as leaders St Kitts and Nevis Patriots lost their third straight in a 22-run defeat to Jamaica Tallawahs, who halted a three-game losing streak with the victory.
The veteran left-hander, who turns 42 in 13 days, managed only 12 as the Patriots, asked to chase 170 for victory at Warner Park, were held to 147 for eight off their 20 overs.
Devon Thomas, who has gathered nearly 200 runs for the campaign, top-scored with 34 off 26 balls while Joshua Da Silva weighed in with 28 off 31 balls but the long overdue runs from the talisman Gayle never materialised.
“I need some runs definitely. It’s about time,” conceded Gayle, who led the side in the absence of regular captain Dwayne Bravo.
“I think moreso when your back is against the wall sometimes you tend to dig something out of the bag and pull off a brilliant innings for the team, a match-winning innings.
“I think that’s required now and that’s needed now so [I put my] hands up. Even though we lost a few key players but with myself and Evin (Lewis) in the team, we both have a lot of experience so one of us can get a big score on the board and set it up for our team.”
Gayle has now scraped 83 runs from five innings in the tournament at an average of 16.
The form is not dissimilar to his current drought for West Indies where he averages a paltry 17 from 16 innings this year, and has scored a single half-century in the last five years.
Sent in earlier, Tallawahs were carried to 169 for eight off their 20 overs by the stylish Shamarh Brooks who hit 43 off 33 balls in 54-run, third wicket partnership with captain Rovman Powell who struck 37 from 19 deliveries.
Brooks counted four fours and two sixes while Powell blasted a four and four sixes, paving the way for Andre Russell’s 17-ball 28 which included two fours and three sixes.
“We use [Brooks] as the glue. We ask him to bring all that Test match experience to our batting order,” Powell said.
“All this power [we have] is good but a little finesse that Shamarh and hopefully Haider Ali can bring to us is very good. It’s been satisfying to watch Shamarh bat these few games.”
In reply, Lewis fell in the second over to fast bowler Migael Pretorius (3-25), feathering a catch behind for seven with as many on the board and Gayle missed an ill-timed swing at off-spinner Chris Green and was bowled in the fifth over.
Thomas and Da Silva put on 49 for the third wicket but the stand required 51 balls and the remainder of the batting buckled under the pressure of a required run rate which spiraled to 15 runs per over.
Tallawahs are fourth on six points, four adrift of Patriots at the top on ten.
