INCISIVE fast bowling from Vernon Philander, coupled with a belligerent batting display from Andre Russell, enabled the Jamaica Tallawahs to chalk up a comfortable seven wicket victory over the Antigua Hawksbills at the Guyana National Stadium last night.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first, the Hawksbills who found the bowling of Philander, who was later declared man

of the match for his 3 for 17, backed by Muttiah Muralitharan (2 for 17) and Christopher Gayle’s 2 for 22, struggled to 117 for 7 from their 20 overs.
Only Kieron Powell’s 38 (36 balls, 2×4, 1×4) and 19 each from Ricky Ponting and Justin Kemp offered any resistance to the Tallawahs’ bowling attack that led to six of the Hawksbills’ wickets tumbling for 52 runs, after they were comfortably placed on 62 for 1.
Powell and Johnson Charles (07) posted 20 for the first wicket before the latter was caught by Ahmed Shehzad at point off Philander, after hitting the previous delivery gloriously through the covers for four, in the second over, after David Bernard Jr conceded 16 off the first, which included a six off Powell’s bat.
Rain stopped play for 15 minutes shortly after Ponting joined Powell at 31 for 1 and on the resumption of play, they pushed the score to 62, with Ponting paddle sweeping Gayle off his pads for four, while Russell was pulled for a six by Powell.
However, the demise of Ponting who was caught at deep midwicket by Shehzad off Gayle, along with the dismissals of Marlon Samuels (08, which included a six over long on off Gayle) and Devon Thomas (02) who went in the space of three balls to Muralitharan, left the Hawksbills on 76 for 4.
The Antigua based team posted their 100 from 17.1 overs, but lost the wickets of Rahkeem Cornwall (09) who was lbw to Philander when he looked to scoop the fast bowler to fine leg, and a dangerous looking Powell, whose stumps was shattered by Gayle.
Kemar Roach (05*) and Dave Mohammed (02*) ensured their team batted their full quota of overs, before they saw the Tallawahs progressed to 16 before they lost Shehzad, who was caught by Kemp at mid-on off Roach, after  he got a thick inside edge to fine leg off the same bowler, four balls earlier.
Gayle was joined by Nkrumah Bonner who fought fire with fire, by hitting both Anthony Martin and Samuels for four, followed by a six over long on off Martin in his next over, before Samuels pierced his defence with a well flighted delivery to send him back for 21 (20 balls, 2×4; 1×6).
Danza Hyatt joined Gayle, but lost the talismanic opener shortly after when the burly Cornwall displayed great reflexes while holding onto a return catch at 51 for 3 after 10.2 overs, which meant Hyatt and Russell clobbered the remaining 69 runs that took the Tallawahs home, from 4.3 overs.
Kemp was hit for a six by Hyatt in his first over, while Russell cashed in on the tall South African second over to dispatch him for two sixes, before he culminated the contest with his third and final six over wide long on off Mohammed, who was belatedly introduced into the attack by Samuels.
Cornwall, Samuels and Roach each picked up a wicket for the Hawksbills for 6, 14 and 17 runs respectively, while at the presentation ceremony, Philander and Russell received their accolades for the Man- of- the- Match and Most Sixes efforts, respectively.

Scorecard
ANTIGUA HAWKSBILLS
J. Charles c Shehzad b Philander 07
K. Powell b Gayle 38
R. Ponting c Shehzad b Gayle 19
M. Samuels lbw b Muralitharan 08
D. Thomas lbw b Muralitharan 02
J. Kemp c Gayle b Philander 19
R. Cornwall lbw b Philander 09
K. Roach not out 05
D. Mohammed not out 01
Extras: (w6, lb3)09
Total (for 7 wickets off 20 overs) 117
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-62, 3-74, 4-76, 5-88, 6-101, 7-114
Did not bat: K. Martin, S. Cotterrell
Bowling: Bernard 1-0-16-0 (1w), Philander 4-0-17-3, Gayle 4-0-22-2 (1w), Russell 4-0-30-0, Muralitharan 4-0-18-2 (2w), Miller 3-0-12-0

JAMAICA TALLAWAHS
C. Gayle c&b Cornwall 11
A. Shehzad c Kemp b Roach
N. Bonner b Samuels 21
D. Hyatt not out 25
A. Russell not out 42
Extras (w4, lb3, b4)11
Total (for 3 wickets off 16.5 overs) 120
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-41, 3-51
Did not bat: J. Rudolph, C. Baugh Jr, D. Bernard Jr, V. Philander, N. Miller. M. Muralitharan
Bowling: Roach 3-0-17-1 (1w), Cotterrell 3-0-11-0, Martin 4-0-26-0, Samuels 3-0-14-1, Cornwall 1-0-6-1 (1w), Kemp 2-0-30-0 (2w), Mohammed .5-0-9-0