By defeating the Saint Lucia Kings in the Eliminator, the Jamaica Tallawahs gave themselves a chance to advance to the championship game. They won by 33 runs, moving on to the Hero Caribbean Premier League Qualifier 2. (CPL).
The Guyana Amazon Warriors, who fell to Barbados in the day's other encounter, will square off against Jamaica in Qualifier 2.
The Saint Lucia Kings won the toss and chose to field first. They made the most of this choice by putting on a focused bowling performance. Never at ease were the Tallawahs. However, Mohammed Nabi's late-order hitting enabled them to produce a defendable total.
In the PowerPlay, the Kings held the Tallawahs to just 29 for 2 thanks to the excellent lengths of Matthew Forde and Alzarri Joseph's bowling.
The Tallawahs were reduced to 115 for 8 when Kesrick Williams dismissed Chris Green for two as the Kings proceeded to take wickets at regular intervals. But after that dismissal, Nabi led the counterattack and concluded with 31 off 15 balls to give the Tallawahs a respectable total of 148.
However, their 148 proved to be more than enough as the Tallawahs put on an outstanding field performance.
When Du Plessis was out for 41 in the eighth over when the Kings were chasing, they had made it to 54/2 at the end of the PowerPlay. The Kings got themselves into a jam from which they were unable to escape.
Mohammed Nabi's outstanding bowling performance came after his explosive play with the bat. The Tallawahs bowling unit contributed to the Kings' collapse for 115 and elimination from the match.
The Tallawahs' victory now puts them in a second qualifier match against the Guyana Amazon Warriors to decide who will play in the Hero CPL championship game versus the Barbados Royals.
Brief scores: Jamaica Tallawahs 148/8 in 20 overs (Shamarh Brooks 47, Mohammad Nabi 31 not out, Raymon Reiffer 25, David Wiese 3/19, Alzarri Joseph 2/31) beat St Lucia Kings 115 all out in 18 overs (Faf du Plessis 41, Alzarri Joseph 28, Mohammed Nabi 3/10, Fabian Allen 3/28) by 33 runs