GEORGE­TOWN, Guyana – Alex Hales struck a ca­reer-best hun­dred as resur­gent Ja­maica Tallawahs crushed St Lu­cia Kings by 122 runs to all but clinch the fi­nal spot in the play­offs of the Caribbean Pre­mier League, yes­ter­day.

Need­ing to win their fi­nal game to edge out Bar­ba­dos Roy­als who play their fi­nal game lat­er Sun­day against Guyana Ama­zon War­riors, Tallawahs racked up an im­pres­sive 201 for five be­hind Hales’s un­beat­en 119, and then bun­dled Kings out off 79 off 15 overs.

The re­sult moved Tallawahs to nine points, two ahead of Roy­als who, with a dis­tinct­ly in­fe­ri­or net run rate, are high­ly un­like­ly to qual­i­fy for the play­offs even if they win.

For the ti­tle-hold­ers, the win was their sec­ond straight af­ter los­ing five on the trot, and stand-in cap­tain Imad Wasim said the mo­men­tum was vi­tal for the play­offs.

“It’s the right way to go, We want­ed mo­men­tum at the end of the tour­na­ment. We got that, now it’s the play­offs [and] you nev­er know what’s go­ing to hap­pen in the play­offs,” said Imad.

“I think last year was the same. We got the mo­men­tum right at the end and we kept it though. In crick­et, mo­men­tum is very im­por­tant, es­pe­cial­ly in league crick­et.

“Now we’re full of con­fi­dence. Our top or­der is fir­ing, the low­er or­der is do­ing well, spin­ners are bowl­ing well, fast bowlers are bowl­ing well – every­one is in form. We look like a dan­ger­ous team, to be hon­est.”

Hales was spec­tac­u­lar, the Eng­lish open­er blast­ing a dozen fours and sev­en six­es in a stun­ning 57-ball, Man-of-the-Match knock. He com­plet­ed his first fifty off 32 balls and raced to triple fig­ures off on­ly an­oth­er 15 de­liv­er­ies.

Tallawahs were on­ly 71 for two af­ter ten overs but Hales com­bined in a 116-run, fourth wick­et stand with Imad, who struck three fours and three six­es in a 24-ball 41, to ac­cel­er­ate the scor­ing as the last five overs leaked 72 runs.

“I felt in great form to­day. I found the mid­dle of the bat pret­ty much from ball one. It was just one of those days when every­thing clicked,” Hales said.

In re­ply, Sri Lankan Bhanu­ka Ra­japak­sa was the on­ly spe­cial­ist bats­man to reach dou­ble fig­ures with 22, as Kings nev­er got their chase off the ground.

Off-spin­ner Chris Green proved in­ci­sive with four for 15 from his four overs while new-ball bowlers, seam­er Mo­ham­mad Amir (2-7) and left-arm spin­ner Imad (2-24), sup­port­ed with two wick­ets apiece.

Kings are al­ready as­sured of third place on ten points and will like­ly face Tallawahs again in the first play­off game on Tues­day.

Brief Scores

TALLAWAHS 201 for five off 20 overs (Alex Hales 119 not out, Imad Wasim 41; Ros­ton Chase 2-33)

KINGS 79 all out off 15 overs (Bhanu­ka Ra­japak­sa 22; Chris Green 4-15, Mo­ham­mad Amir 2-7, Imad Wasim 2-24)

(CMC)