THE Jamaica Tallawahs are hopeful that Andre Russell will be able to return to the team in time for tonight’s clash with the unbeaten Guyana Amazon Warriors at Sabina Park.

In the 14th over their match against the St Lucia Zouks last week Wednesday, Russell failed to pull a short ball from Hardus Viljoen and was hit.

The ball struck Russell’s helmet near the right ear and he collapsed in a heap before he was stretchered off and taken to the hospital where scans showed there was no significant damage other than a haematoma.

He missed subsequent matches against Trinbago Knight Riders and Barbados Tridents but Ronnie Sarwan, Tallawahs’ assistant coach, said the signs are there that Russell could return to action today.

“We hope so. The good thing about it is that he has been going through his testing and everything seems to be okay at this point. We just have to wait and see what happens today and tomorrow,” Sarwan said while addressing media at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston yesterday morning.

Sarwan believes having Russell back would help the Tallawahs put their best team on the field against an in-form Warriors side who have won their four games so far.

He said the arrival of Jade Dernbach and Afghanistan leg-spinner Zahir Khan and with Russell back, Tallawahs will be able to build on the momentum of their first win of the season on Sunday.

“Jade and Khan have put us in a position that makes us much more balanced from when we started the tournament, so once we have young Springer ready and Russell ready to go we have our best eleven,” Sarwan said. (Sportsmax)