Polly v Gayle

Defending champs Tridents clash with Tallawahs

Two of the biggest guns in the Twenty20 cricket Kieron Pollard and Chris Gayle will square off today when 2013 champions Jamaica Tallawahs and the defending champions Barbados Tridents clash in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) match at Kensington Oval, Barbados at 6 p.m. today.

 

The Tridents got their title defence off to a flying start on Saturday with Man of the Match Pollard hitting 48 off 26 balls and grabbing two wickets for 20 runs in their 49-run win over a Guyana Amazon Warriors side that included mystery spinner Sunil Narine and hard-hitting opening batsman Lendl Simmons.

“At the end of the day I had to try and lead by example. I have been batting well since the IPL (Indian Premier League) and again I took it upon myself and then in the bowling, I think the wicket suit me a bit,” said Pollard after leading his team to victory.

Gayle and the Tallawahs open their 2015 campaign today and will be looking to maintain their dominance over the Barbados side in the shortest format of the game. The sides have met four times in the CPL cricket with the Tallawahs winning three of those encounters. They head into the match with Gayle coming off another good season in the Indian Premier League when he won the award of most sixes.

The Tallawahs also have hard-hitting all-rounder Andre Russell in the ranks. Russell also had a good IPL and was named tournament MVP. The Jamaica franchise will also want to give New Zealand's Daniel Vettori a good send off this season.

Vettori will finish his cricketing career in this year's tournament. “This is my last playing commitment - it'll be a really nice way to finish up to be back with the Jamaican team and hopefully be successful. I retired from everything after the World Cup and this was on the radar and I had a lot of fun last year so I thought it'd be a great way to finish up and get a chance to play in the CPL again,” he said. “We're a strong team and there are expectations to do well,” the spinner added.

SQUADS:
Barbados Tridents: Kieron Pollard (captain), Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Ashley Nurse, Dilshan Munaweera, Dwayne Smith, Jason Holder, Jeevan Mendis, Jonathan Carter, Kyle Corbin, Navin Stewart, Ravi Rampaul, Rayad Emrit, Robin Peterson, Shoib Malik.

Jamaica Tallawahs: Chris Gayle (captain), Chadwick Walton, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Daniel Vettori, David Bernard, Horace Miller, Jermaine Blackwood, Jerome Taylor, Krishmar Santokie, Mahela Jayawardene, Narsingh Deonarine, Nikita Miller, Nkrumah Bonner, Rusty Theron.