Jamaica Tallawahs captain Rovman Powell believes poor execution with the ball during the ‘death overs’ was the main reason behind his team’s lopsided loss against the Trinbago Knight Riders on Tuesday, their second loss to the same rivals in their last two matches.

The defending champions cruised to victory winning by a commanding 75 runs.

The Tallawahs won the toss and opted to field first.

Trinbago Knight Riders initially struggled to score runs as they were restricted by Imad Wasim and Veerasammy Permaul, but a late onslaught from captain Kieron Pollard and Tim Seifert ensured they reached 167-4 after the duo blasted 28 runs in the final over.

Jamaica Tallawahs struggled to build partnerships amidst some fantastic bowling from Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul and Ali Khan as they finished 92 all out against the defending champions.

Trinbago Knight Riders got off to a slow start as Lendl Simmons and Hero CPL debutant Leonardo Julien batted patiently. The Tallawahs were firmly in control through some disciplined bowling, but Seifert coming in the 18th over changed the complexion of the game as he smashed 24 runs off just 8 balls, his partnership with Pollard amounting to a remarkable 62 runs off 20 deliveries.

“I think we just didn’t bowl to our plans. We had a plan to make sure they don’t hit to the short side and we didn’t hit them, we bowled too straight,” Powell said.

“Should have gone wide. It comes down to execution. If we had executed better in the last 3-4 overs, it wouldn’t have been the same.”

He said he hopes the team can turn things around having lost four of their six matches to fall to fifth in the table and out of the top-four places that qualify for the playoffs.

“Hopefully, overnight the guys can get it right. We’ll keep building on our plans. Two games don’t make us a bad team. We always plan to get better, win, lose or draw. We’ll just sit down Jamaican style, have some food, and have some chats,” Powell said.

TKR captain, Pollard, praised the team’s efforts for getting to 167 after being restrained for the first 17 overs of their innings.

“Me and Tim got the impetus. It wasn’t going to be easy and to get 160 was a good job,” said the TKR captain, who believes his team is peaking at the right time, having moved into second place after the impressive victory.

The Tallawah’s response was hindered by the returning Khan, making his first appearance of this year’s Hero CPL, as he took three wickets in the Powerplay for just two runs, including that of both openers, Kennar Lewis and Haider Ali.

Spinners Narine, Akeal Hosein and Khary Pierre further stifled the Tallawahs, with Khan returning later on in the match to pick up his fourth wicket of the day.

“We wanted someone like Narine to bowl 3-4 overs in the back end, the game got away from us after he was done in the last match,” Pollard said.

“Ali Khan keeps doing it for us every time,” he added.

 Trinbago Knight Riders now have four wins in this year’s Hero CPL as they look to defend their title.

Scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 167-4 (Simmons 42, Pollard 39; Imad Wasim 1-13, Brathwaite 1-16) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 92 all out (Powell 22, Brathwaite 14; Ali Khan 4-6, Narine  2-11) by 75 runs.