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The Caribbean teams of the recent years have been famous for its big-hitting superstars. However, the pitches in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) haven't always been quite batsman-friendly. We had some big scores, but the truly massive ones were far and few.
This has changed completely from the 2018 CPL season. During the last two seasons, a string of massive scores has come our way. In fact, 14 out of the top 15 scores in the history of CPL were made in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Top 5 team totals in the history of CPL
With the 2020 edition of the CPL just a day away, let us recap those humongous team totals that lit up the tournament in the past.
5. St Lucia Stars (226/6)
The biggest team total of St Lucia franchise came in the 2018 edition of CPL when they were going by the name St Lucia Stars. They scored a massive 226/6 against Barbados Tridents at Gros Islet.
Barbados Tridents had won the toss and elected to field first. After losing David Warner early in the innings, Andre Fletcher started attacking from one end. Rahkeem Cornwall played a good cameo of 30 runs from 11 runs. Then it was the turn of skipper Kieron Pollard. The Trinidadian tore into the Tridents bowling line-up hitting 8 sixes and 6 fours. He scored 104 runs in just 54 balls and built a partnership of 148 runs with Andre Fletcher, who ended up with 80 runs from 52 balls.
During the onslaught, Raymon Reifer was taken apart for 67 runs off his 4 overs. This remains the second-worst figures in CPL history. St Lucia Stars ended up winning the match by 40 runs.
4. Jamaica Tallawahs (226/5)
This effort of Jamaica Tallawahs came against the Trinbago Knight Riders at Kingston, Jamaica in 2019. The bowlers from both teams had a nightmare of a match. A total of 493 runs were scored in 40 overs of the game.
Chris Gayle, Javelle Glen and Ramaal Lewis played cameos for the Tallawahs, but all of them fell in their 30’s. Glenn Phillips, the opener from New Zealand, was the standout performer with the bat for the Jamaican franchise. He scored 62 runs from 32 balls which included 4 sixes and 7 fours.
Even after scoring 226 runs off 20 overs, Jamaica Tallawahs fell short by 41 runs. It was certainly a match which only the batsmen will fondly remember.
3. Jamaica Tallawahs (241/4)
This is the second instance in which Jamaica Tallawahs scored a total which found its place in the top 5 scores in CPL history, only to end up on the losing side. This knock came against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots at Basseterre, St Kitts in the 2019 edition of CPL.
After asking the Tallawahs to bat first, Gayle storm hit St Kitts hard. It was probably the only big knock that Gayle played in the 2019 CPL season, and there was no stopping him that night. He cleared the boundary 10 times on his way to 116 from just 62 deliveries. Wicketkeeper-batsman Chadwick Walton joined the fun scoring 73 runs off just 36 balls in an innings that included 8 massive sixes.
Going into the innings break, it felt like the Tallawahs had the game firmly in their grip, but there was more misery to come for the bowlers. Even the biggest total of Tallawahs' CPL history could not help them win the game.
4. St Kitts and Nevis Patriots (242/6)
The franchise from St Kitts and Nevis made the second highest total in CPL history chasing down the target set by Jamaica Tallawahs in the 2019 edition of the tournament. This is also the highest successful chase in CPL history.
After winning the toss and electing to field first, the Patriots looked down and out after the Gayle storm. The openers came out all guns blazing. Evin Lewis scored a quickfire 53 runs off just 18 balls, sending the ball over the fence on six occasions. His opening partner Devon Thomas played a good hand, scoring 71 runs from 40 balls. The pair put up a partnership of 85 from just 5.3 overs at a run rate of around 17 runs an over.
This was followed by good cameos from Laurie Evans, Fabian Allen and Shamarh Brooks. In the end, St Kitts won the game comfortably with 7 balls to spare. Evin Lewis was adjudged man-of-the-match for his match altering cameo at the top of the innings.
1. Trinbago Knight Riders (267/2)
The highest score in CPL history was scored by the franchise from Trinidad & Tobago against Jamaica Tallawahs in 2019 at Kingston. Only two wickets were lost during the effort, of which one came by way of run-out. There was simply no respite for the Jamaican bowlers.
Opening the batting, Lendl Simmons had scored a blistering 86 runs off just 42 balls with 5 sixes. Even though he lost his partner Sunil Narine relatively early, it paved the way for some murderous hitting from Collin Munro. The southpaw ended up clearing the boundary 8 times on his way to 96 runs off 50 balls.
Once Simmons got run-out in the 15th over, it was time for skipper Kieron Pollard to join the action. To add on the misery, he scored quickfire 45 runs at a mindboggling strike rate of 264.7.
Jamaica Tallawahs had invited the Knight Riders to bat after winning the toss, and this became too tall a mountain for them to climb. Tallawahs ended up losing the game by 51 runs.
