Tallawahs vs Kings, 29th Match at Providence, CPL 2023, Sep 17 2023 - Match Result

Alex Hales, Player of the Match:  I found the middle of the bat, pretty much from ball one, just one of the days where everything clicked. Little a bit of luck along the way, but sometimes you need that in T20...very pleased to have found some form at important time. I think the matchups are an important thing, it was a very small boundary and there were a couple of off-spinners bowling so I felt like that was the right time to accelerate. I gave myself a chance, got to the fifty and then pushed on really well. (Imad) is such a competitor, he is getting better and better each year, one of the best all-rounders in the world at the moment; he is bowling really well. Some of the sixes he hit in the end were great to witness from the other end. We just have to keep being confident, I think there were a couple of games in the group stages where we were a little bit timid. I think last few games, we played some aggressive cricket...we just have to take that confidence. (favourite six) Maybe the one that Roston threw out real high and I just shut my eyes and swung as hard as I could and it came out of the middle.

Imad Wasim, Jamaica Tallawahs Captain: (On Alex Hales knock) Oh, it was fantastic. Watching him from a non-striker, it was unbelievable. I thought it was the best innings so far in the competition and I was very lucky to witness it. I thought if we had won the toss, we would have batted first as I told you it's the best time to bat in day time, I think we capitalized really well. we know once it gets dry, it's gonna spin and keep low. We play as a unit, I thought in the last two games, our big guys had to step up. Mohammad Amir last game and even today, Chris Green and Alex Hales today stepped up. it's the right way to go. we wanted momentum at the end of the tournament, we got that now. Now it's playoff, you never know what's gonna happen in playoffs. I think last year was the same, we got the momentum right at the end and we kept it through, in cricket momentum is very important, especially in league cricket. now we are in full confidence, our top order is firing, lower order is doing well, and fast bowlers are doing well. everyone is in form, we look like a dangerous team to be honest.

Sikandar Raza, Saint Lucia Kings Captain: Everything (went wrong). I just thought credit to Jamaica. They were a lot more hungrier. All credit to them, we just didn't turn up in any department. I thought our execution with the ball, our fielding, and then batting as well just went from bad to worse. I don't think we can stoop any low so the only way is up and we see these guys on Tuesday again so what went wrong with me was pretty much every department. (On toss) Yeah, I thought it was the right decision because it wasn't easy to bat in the first six overs. The thing is if you don't bowl to your plans and do not use the conditions available to you then it doesn't matter, I will give credit to Alex Hales for a brutal innings he played today so well done to him and I don't wanna take credit away from him, but when you don't hit your straps and you don't put pressure with a wicket like that with moisture on top then it's very hard to catch up. All the morning games are done so I reckon that's the positive for u...the night games are left so the boys should turn up, have plenty of rest, fluids and look after themselves and come back hard and strong on Tuesday. In franchise cricket, you always say every team is due a bad game, so for us, if I look on that side, I think our bad game is done now so hopefully we will have three (good) games till the final now.

Jamaica Tallawahs were all guns blazing in this must-win game for them, and the elder statesmen rose to the occasion brilliantly. Alex Hales got going in the powerplay and never looked back, smashing a big daddy hundred to set up a colossal target for the Kings. Thereafter, Mohammad Amir was right on the money in a scorching opening spell and took two vital wickets, while Chris Green annihilated the Kings with four wickets. He got the ball to spin viciously and induced false shots as the Kings were bundled out for a paltry score of 79. That's it from this game. Do join us for the last group stage game later today between Barbados Royals and Guyana Amazon Warriors. Till then, it's goodbye from Rvel Zahid

Aditya: "Dunno where to ask you guys these questions but will you be covering the Asian games over here?" We'll have live commentary from the QFs onwards.