Barbados Royals 161 for 5 (Phillips 56*, Reifer 31*, Permaul 2-15) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 146 for 9 (Brooks 47, Reifer 3-31, Perera 2-17) by 15 runs
Having sat out his team’s first two fixtures, Raymon Reifer hit a crucial unbeaten 31 as part of a 79-run unbroken sixth-wicket stand in the first innings before claiming 3 for 31 in the chase as Barbados Royals held off Jamaica Tallawahs by 15 runs. Reifer’s spell included a massive double-strike in the 15th over, claiming Carlos Brathwaite and then Andre Russell for a golden duck with a pair of skied chances taken on the off-side boundary as Tallawahs fell from 99 for 4 to 103 for 6 and could not regenerate momentum thereafter.
Royals won the toss and chose to bat first with Reifer entering the line-up in place of Ashley Nurse. A reshuffled batting order fared little better than their first two games as Royals slipped to 51 for 4 after seven overs and then 82 for 5 before Reifer teamed up with Glenn Phillips to resuscitate the Royals innings with a calmly composed stand.
Royals still looked way behind the game before taking 31 off the final two overs bowled by Migael Pretorius and Russell. Phillips had been scoring at under a run a ball for the majority of his innings but clattered four boundaries in this sequence to bring up a 44-ball half-century while Reifer similarly finished with a flourish by belting a four and six off Russell in the final over for a late surge to take Royals to 161.
The first half of the Tallawahs innings played out in eerily similar fashion as four wickets fell inside the powerplay. Hayden Walsh Jr made his presence felt in the field, taking two sharp catches to dismiss Haider Ali and Kennar Lewis off the bowling of Mohammad Amir and Reifer respectively before charging in from backward point to produce an underarm flick into the striker’s stumps with Rovman Powell two inches short to complete a runout for his third dismissal in short time, leaving the score at 33 for 4.
However, Brathwaite and Shamarh Brooks added 66 for the fifth wicket with Russell still waiting to enter as Tallawahs looked in a comfortable position with six overs to go despite needing to score at 11 per over the rest of the way to overhaul the target. Reifer returned to the attack and swung momentum back to the Royals for good. It started with three wides landing outside the guidelines before Brathwaite skied a wide yorker to Phillips at cover sweeper for 29.
After a single to Brooks put Russell on strike, another three wide yorkers outside the guidelines followed before more deja vu when Russell skied a drive to over point where Walsh Jr held on for his fourth dismissal as Tallawahs tail could not wag enough to challenge the Royals bowlers down the stretch.
Peter Della Penna is ESPNcricinfo’s USA correspondent @PeterDellaPenna
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