Jamaica Tallawahs win inaugural CPL championship

Jamaica Tallawahs: Champions of inaugural CPL

Chris Gayle turned up with his second best batting performance of the tournament while Andre Russell played a cameo as Jamaica Tallawahs crushed Guyana Amazon Warriors by seven wickets to become the first team to win the Caribbean Premier League.

Gayle remained unbeaten on 47 off 48 balls while Andre Russell smashed 33 off 18 balls as the duo added 62 runs off 34 balls and helped Jamaica reach the humble 129-run target with 15 balls to spare.

Jamaica had won the toss and put Guyana in to bat and struck at regular intervals to ensure that a power-packed batting line-up that included the likes of Lendl Simmons, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dinesh Ramdin never got going.

Had it not been for a solid 40 by Simmons, Guyana would have been shot out for much less. Jamaica owed a lot of their success to the 32-year-old David Bernard for his excellent figures of 2/18 of four overs.

While chasing the Tallawahs were never really in any spot of worry after Chadwick Walton and Chris Gayle had taken the side to an energetic start, adding 26 off 3.4 overs before the former was sent back by Dilshan.

While Kumar Sangakkara solidified a partnership with Gayle, Christopher Barnwell removed the former Sri Lankan captain and Lasith Malinga got rid of Blackwood to raise a glimmer of hope for Guyana. But the breathtaking fourth-wicket partnership of Gayle and Russell never really gave them a chance.