West Indies bowling legend and Jamaica Tallawahs coach Curtly Ambrose admits to taking special pride and pleasure in lifting the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) crown on Friday because of the team’s status as underdogs.
The Jamaica-based franchise lifted the fourth title in its history and first in four years following a dominant eight-wicket win over the more heavily favoured Barbados Royals. Heading into the final, the Royals were the league’s hottest team, having lost just two of 10 games.
The Tallawahs, on the other hand, who are conditioned by Ambrose and another Windies legend, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in the meantime, finished in the final qualifying spot. At one point during the season, the Tallawahs lost five of seven games.
“This means a lot as a group; we came into the tournament as underdogs. Not many gave us a chance to come out of the first round, let alone win it,” Ambrose said, following the team’s triumph.
“I haven’t sprinted for years and I found myself sprinting onto the field. It was a wonderful performance though, and we were deserving winners,” he added.
“The thing about the Tallawahs is that we didn’t really [focus] on just one or two players. At any given time, any player can step up. We have depth in our batting, we have good bowling. We stuck together as a family and we believed from day 1 that we could have won this championship and we did.” (Sports Max)