‘THAT EXTRA 5%’ – Jamaica Observer
Jamaica Kingsmen star player Andre Russell acknowledges the crowd after scoring a half-century in their
Caribbean Premier League T20 match against Barbados Tridents at Sabina Park on Tuesday night. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)
JAMAICA Kingsmen captain Ravman Powell says his team must find “that extra five or 10 per cent” as they look to bounce back and secure a first win in the 2026 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) when they host the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Thursday at Sabina Park at 7:00 pm.
The Kingsmen are still searching for their first points of the season after two tight losses, including a five-run defeat to the Barbados Tridents on Tuesday.
Sent in to bat, the Barbados Tridents made 206-3 from their allotted 20 overs thanks to a dominant top-order display. The Jamaica Kingsmen fought back from the brink but came up just short, ending on 201-9 off 20 overs.
“Obviously, we are still searching for our first win. We have some time to sit down, get our plans right, guys recover, and come on Thursday and see if we can give a better account of ourselves,” Powell said in a post-match interview.
“I think as a bowling group we kind of struggle to string proper overs together. And, you know, 206 is a lot of runs on the board but having said that, I think we have fought well,” Powell added.
Powell identified the team’s biggest issue.
“But another thing that we didn’t do well is that we keep on losing wickets in clusters. The statistics say if we keep on losing wickets in clusters, majority of the times you will come up on the defeating end of the games.
Brandon King (front) of Barbados Tridents plays a shot while teammate Sherfane Rutherford looks on. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)
“I think it’s just for us to give that extra five or 10 per cent, that it is what it comes down to. And it is for us as a group to stay together,” he said.
Brandon King led the way for the Tridents with a fluent 73 from 50 balls, hitting five fours and four sixes. He anchored two big partnerships — 72 with Quinton de Kock who made 42 from 25, and then 93 with Sherfane Rutherford.
Rutherford finished the innings in style, unbeaten on 50 from 28 balls with four fours and three sixes, ensuring the Tridents crossed the 200-mark.
The Tridents started fast at 33-0 after 2 overs, lost Zachery Carter for 27, but never really slowed down after that.
For the Jamaica Kingsmen, the bowling was shared around. Jediah Blades, Hunain Shah, and Andre Russell all picked up a wicket apiece, but they struggled to contain King and Rutherford in the back end.
The chase for the Kingsmen collapsed early at 8-3 after just nine balls being bowled jwith Daniel Sams removing Reeza Hendricks (2) and Kirk McKenzie Jr (0) and Tridents captain Chris Greem removing Shayan Jahangir (0) cheaply.
Kingsmen batter Vitel Lawes (left) is run out by Tridents’ Ramon Simmonds. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)
Powell and Keacy Carty rebuilt with a 50-run fourth wicket stand. Powell hit four sixes in his 38 from 24 balls before Gudakesh Motie broke the partnership in the eighth over at 58-4. It became 60-5 when Hassan Khan fell to Green without scoring from two deliveries.
The momentum shifted when Russell came in. He and Carty put on 72 for the sixth wicket to take Kingsmen to 132 in the 14th. Carty was then bowled by Sams for 45 from 27 balls — one four, four sixes.
With the game looking done, Russell and Vitel Lawes staged a stunning comeback. They added 69 runs and brought the equation down to six needed off three balls at 201-7. That’s when it unraveled. Russell fell for a blazing 68 from 38 balls to Ramon Simmonds, Lawes was run out at the non-striker’s end next ball, and Shah failed to connect from the last ball of the innings.
Despite the 0-2 start, the Kingsmen captain is keeping the mood positive in the camp.
“We have two tight games. You know two games that could have gone either way. We could have been 2-0 up. Having said that, I think it left a good taste in the fans mount and I think they will come out and support us for the rest of the games,” Powell said.
He also praised the conditions at home, giving credit to the groundsmen for producing good batting surfaces.
“I think oftentimes as cricketers, we give the groundsmen a hard time in the Caribbean, but credit have to be given to them tonight. They provided a very good surface, an entertaining surface and you know fans come out to watch sixes, fours, and sort of things and I think tonight the wicket conducive to proper cricket, hence we got a very good game,” Powell said.
Jamaica Kingsmen’s Kirk McKenzie is bowled for a duck by Barbados Tridents’ Daniel Sams during their Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament match at Sabina Park on Tuesday night. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)